


















<> 'o • » * -lO 



O, ^'TVi* .5^ 




<^ 'o 




V^\.^i 



















^^ 






V "^^ 






^-n^. V 






' /\ '•^,' '^'■'^•^^ '^Ws /\ •.^'° ^"^'"^^ w 



















k:\ c,°^^^^% y.:r^'.% .^°/^^''^ / 



^'X 












'av<p' 










^'-^t. .' 



x^^.^ 



jP-t:, 



f"" 

V .• 



• ^•^' 










'<?>• ••«&' .-§> 



"^./ 















•^V \'^\/ %*^^*/ \*^^-/ ' 






-^^^^ 


















^ ^H ' 









THE CHURCH-KINGDOM: 



LECTURES ON CONGREGATIONALISM, 



DELIVERED 



ON THE SOUTHWORTH FOUNDATION IN THE ANDOVER 
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1882-86. 



A. HASTINGS ROSS, 



PASTOR OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN; 
LECTURER IN THE ©BERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, AND AUTHOR 
OF THE " OHIO MANUAL," " THE CHURCH OF GOD : A CATE- 
CHISM," AND " THE POCKET MANUAL." 
.0 



.1. 




BOSTON AND CHICAGO: 
CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 



HE LIBRARY 
O^ COlfGRE«« 

i?l?HlNCTON 



^ 



,1-' 



ij 



•2.\ 



^fc 



Copyright, i88y, by 
Congregational Sunday- School and Publishing Society, 



Elecirotyped and Printed by 
Stanley and Usher, iji Devonshire Street, Boston. 



It should be understood that, in issuing theological books, the 
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society is not to be 
held as approving every principle and opinion advanced in them. 



PREFACE. 



During the present century there has been a wonderful movement 
among Christian nations towards equality in all things. The laborer, 
the citizen, the layman, are coming to the front, and the future is 
theirs. Freedom is in the air. Wild theories of brotherhood and 
socialism are freely promulgated. To this whole movement questions 
of government, in order to liberty and security, are fundamental. 
The churches, busy as never before with the evangelization of the 
world, feel this ground-swell of re-adjustment, and are freeing them- 
selves from bondage to the State, that they may teach the root-prin- 
ciples of all government. And the movement is back towards the 
liberty and unity of the primitive churches, with their equality and 
care for the people. It is coming to be felt that this world was not 
made for the few but for the many ; that the welfare of the people 
is above the pleasure of the rich or the ambition of the ruler. This 
movement can not be stayed ; it may be guided. And believing that 
Christ Jesus our Lord put into his churches not only equality but 
also brotherhood, — love of our neighbor, — we find in their govern- 
ment a model for the future State. To cast a handful of salt into 
the bitter fountain of human passion already flowing, we publish 
these Lectures. 

The title may seem strange, but it expresses better than any other 
the contents of the Lectures. Christ dwelt largely on "the king- 
dom," which became his Church and which is still coming. Hence 
organized and manifested Christianity is this very kingdom of heaven 
coming. The Church is the human side of the kingdom, and the 
kingdom is the divine side of the Church. In other words, the 
Church is the kingdom in manifestation. From this central point, 
polity has been considered in these Lectures; for which no better 
name could be found than The Church-Kingdom. Whether we have 
given all the elements of this divine institution or not, and whether 
we have treated them in their normal relations or not, we must leave 
it with others to judge. We can only add that we have desired to 
cover all the elements and to give their normal development. 



vi THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

If our view of the origin of polities be correct, the divisions in 
Christendom have more honorable foundations than many have sup- 
posed. But the same view of their origin presents also the stubborn 
obstacles which must be overcome before those divisions can emerge 
in ecumenical unity. 

A special call for a full discussion of Congregationalism is found 
in the action of the last National Council (1886) respecting ministe- 
rial standing and the pastorate (§ 124: 8). The inadequacy of 
ordaining and installing councils to secure purity has led the churches 
to turn to ministerial standing in associations of churches or confer- 
ences as an adequate safeguard easily applied. But in the transition 
from one safeguard to another, there is danger lest some abnormal 
principle or practice be introduced which shall work evil. It is hoped 
that the following discussion may be helpful in avoiding this danger, 
and at the same time assist in securing uniformity in principle and 
practice among the free churches of Christendom. The one doctrine 
\1 l^e Christian Church has but one constitution that is normal, 
whatever incidental peculiarities national life may give it. 

All who understand the significance of the action of the National 
Council, above referred to, will exonerate the Congregational 
Sunday-School and Publishing Society from all responsibility for 
views deemed peculiar to any portion of our churches, that may 
appear in these Lectures. 

We have given to this doctrine of the Church an ecumenical com- 
prehension, hoping that the time is not far distant when a general 
council of free churches throughout the world, including especially 
mission churches, shall be held in London, at the call of our English 
brethren, to confer upon all matters of faith and polity. 

These Lectures were given in the Andover Theological Seminary 
in 1883, 1885, and 1886, on the Southworth Foundation, and, are an 
enlargement of the Lectures given in the Oberlin Theological 
Seminary since 1872, and outlined in the Pocket Manual. 

We ask the blessing of the Great Head of the Church and the King 
of the kingdom upon this humble attempt to present the principles 
and development of his Church-kingdom. 

A. HASTINGS ROSS. 
Port Huron, Michigan, 1887. 



CONTEKTS. 



LECTURE I. 

PAGE 

§ 1. The scope of these Lectures is the Church of God 1 

§ 2. Linnted to outward forms, instead of the inner life 2 

§ 3. Polity largely fashions doctrines 2 

§ 4. Forms in which the Church has appeared 3 

§ 5. Christendom divided over the visibility of the Church 4 

§ 6. Definition of the Church of God 5 

I. The Patriarchal Dispensation. 

§ 7. Origin of society in the family 6 

§ 8. Antiquity of this dispensation 6 

§ 9. Beginnings of the Church of God 6 

§ 10. The Church continued to the Exodus 7 

§ 11. The simple form of the Patriarchal dispensation 8 

(1) The Sabbath. (2) Sacrifices. (3) The Priesthood. 
(4) Initiatory rite : when introduced. (5) Creed. 

§ 12. This form not unifying 9 

§ 13. Nor did it conserve piety 9 

§ 14. Little separation between saints and sinners 10 

n. The Ceremonial Dispensation. 
§ 15. Developed out of the preceding dispensation through a family 

covenant 11 

§ 16. This covenant did not rigidly separate between the good and 

the bad 12 

§ 17. The law followed the renewal of the covenant 12 

§ 18. The worship being national, tended to unity 12 

§ 19. The priesthood national and exclusive 13 

§ 20. The ritual minute and inflexible 13 

§ 21. The creed of this dispensation 14 

§ 22. The dispensation a Theocracy 14 

§ 23. It honored the family 15 

§ 24. This church form unifying 15 

5 25. Origin of synagogues in the inadequacy of this dispensation 

for an ecumenical religion 16 

;§ 26. This dispensation superseded 16 



viii THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 27. Yet not wholly set aside 17 

(1) Attempted return to the family Church. (2) At- 
tempted return to the national Church. 

§28. Reforms to become permanent must have two elements — a 

religious element and an ecclesiastical element IS 

§ 29. The permanent separated from the transient 19 



LECTURE II. 
III. The Christian Dispensation. 
I. The Kingdom of Heaven. 
§30. The kingdom, the foundation of the Christian Church, 

neglected by writers on Congregationalism 21 

§ 31. The kingdom already set up in the world , . . . . 22: 

(1) Its establishment predicted. (2) A forerunner of it 
sent. (3) The gospel — the gospel of the kingdom. (4) 
The kingdom preached. (5) Set up in that generation, (6) 
Put in contrast with the Ceremonial dispensation. (7) The 
command to evangelize the world rests on Christ's assump- 
tion of royal power. 

§ 32. The kingdom of heaven defined 24 

Its elements are : (1) Loyalty. (2) Unity. (3) Holiness. 
(4) Invisibility. (5) Infallibility. (6) Perpetuity. (7) Uni- 
versality. (8) Equality among subjects. 

§33. These notes distinguish this kingdom from all others 27 

§ 34. Conditions of admission also help to define it 28 

§ 35. The kingdom distinguished from the Church universal 28 

§ 36. The kingdom partly on earth and partly in heaven 29 

II. The Kingdom of Heaven in Manifestation. 

§ 37. It must appear in life and continued organism 30 

(1) The Ceremonial dispensation organically bound to the 
Patriarchal. (2) The Christian dispensation organically 
bound to the Ceremonial. 

§ 38. Its development into organic manifestation not understood by 

the Jews 31 

§39. The true Israel perpetuated through Christ's disciples: the 

remnant 32 

§ 40. The transition rejected and retained much of the old dispensa- 
tion 33 

§ 41. It retained the synagogue form of worship 34 

(1) The synagogue originated in a religious want. (2) It 
met a universal need. (3) Its worship was local, congre- 
gational, weekly, lay. (4) It could be carried and conducted 
anywhere — ecumenical. 



CONTENTS. ix 

§ 42. The kingdom chiefly manifested in and through local churches. 36 
(1) The Holy Spirit uses fellowship as the channel of 
blessing. (2) Hence the apostles planted churches every- 
where. (3) Churches ever appear wherever the kingdom 
extends. 

§ 43. Fellowship unites these churches in associations 38 

§ 44. Therein church polity arises in one of four radical forms 39 

§ 45. Polity has a nobler origin than bigotry, ambition, or corrup- 
tion, in theories of the Christian Church 41 

LECTURE HI. 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND THE EPISCOPAL THEORY OF THE 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

§ 46. Early change in thought and language, as the kingdom became 

visible in churches 42 

§ 47. The true relation of churches to the kingdom expressed by one 

theory, not by many 43 

§48. Theories reduced each to its constitutive principle and its 

development 45 

1. The Papal Theory of the Christian Church. 

§ 49. Its imposing nature — Macaulay 46 

§ 50. Its origin in confounding the visible and the invisible Church . 47 
(1) This confusion seen in Ignatius, Irenseus, Cyprian. 

(2) The confusion born naturally of the Ceremonial dis- 
pensation. (3) Its removal would have prevented the Papacy. 

(4) The distinction between the visible and the invisible 
Church of the utmost present practical value. (5) To con- 
fusion in thought must be added the primacy of St. Peter. 
(6) Also an environment favoring papal pretensions. 

§ 51. The Papal Theory stated 51 

§ 52. Its constitutive principle — not infallibility — but 52 

(1) Infallible primacy. (2j Not determined until 1870. 

(3) The principle active and passive. 

§ 53. This principle developed in an infallible system 53 

(1) Covering doctrine, rites, worship, morals. (2) Under 
the Pope as supreme ruler on earth. 

§ 54. Proofs on which the system rests 55 

§ 55. Observations on the Theory 56 

(1) It is a living power. (2) It can not be assailed by ar- 
gument. (3) It can not be reformed. (4) Its alternative is 
victory or death. — Syllabus of Errors and Papal Infallibility. 

(5) The Roman Catholic churches reformable when the 
Papacy perishes. (6) If the Papacy should prevail, it 
could express the unity of the kingdom of heaven. 



X THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

II. The Episcopal Theory op the Christian Church. 

§56. This Theory older than the Papal 59 

§ 57. Origin of the Theory, in presiding presbyters 59 

§58. The Theory stated 62 

§ 59. Its constitutive principle. — Apostolic succession 62 

§ 60. Alleged proof of it 63 

§ 61. Develops into a minute and exclusive system 64 

§ 62. Different Episcopal Churches 65 

(1) The Greek Church. (2) The Anglican Church. (3) 
The Protestant Episcopal Church. (4) The Moravian 
Brethren. 

§ 63. Observations on the Episcopal Theory 67 

(1) It is a system of government. (2) It is aggressive and 
exclusive. (3) Only the Greek Church in it claims in- 
fallibility. (4) It is an incomplete system, not ecumenical. 

LECTURE lY. 
the presbyterial and the congregational theory op the 

CHRISTIAN church. 

III. The Presbyterian Theory of the Christian Church. 
§ 64. This theory in its elements older than the Episcopal, but later 

in formal statement 70 

§ 65. Origin of the Theory 71 

§ 66. The Theory stated 71 

§ 67. Its constitutive principle — Authoritative Representation 72 

§ 68. Developed into the following system : 72 

(1) Particular or local churches. (2) Church Sessions. 
(3) Presbyteries. (4) Synods. (5) General Assemblies. 
(Q) Presbyterian Alliance, ecumenical. (a) Its Powers. 
(&) Its foreign principle, 

§ 69. The claimed proof of this system 75 

§ 70. This system embraces : 76 

(1) The Presbyterian Churches. (2) The Methodist 
Churches; the Methodist Episcopal Church mixed and un- 
stable. 

§ 71. Observations on the Presbyterian Theory 77 

(1) It is a simple, consistent, incomplete system. (2) It 
is not dependent on lay ruling elders. (3) It does not claim 
infallibility. (4) It is reformable, if proved unscriptural. 

IV. The Congregational Theory of the Christian Church. 

§ 72. This Theory the oldest in principle, but the latest in full 

development 79 

§73. The Theory stated 79 



CONTENTS. xi 

§ 74. Its constitutive principle —Independence under Christ of the 

local church 80 

§ 75. Its developed system ^ 81 

(1) The local church of believers. (2) These churches in 
fellowship. (3) Associated in occasional councils. (4) 
Associated in bodies meeting statedly, {a) District Asso- 
ciations of churches. (6) State Associations of churches, 
(c) National Associations of churches, (d) An Ecumenical 
Association of churches (not yet formed). 

§ 76. This Theory embraces all Independents or Congregationalists, 

Baptists, most Lutherans, and some others 83 

§ 77. Proof of the Theory 83 

§ 78. Observations on the Congregational Theory 83 

(1) It develops a simple, consistent, comprehensive system. 
(2) It is not infallible. (3) It is a living and revolutionary 
Theory. 

V. Comparison of these Four Theories of the Christian 

Church. 

§ 79. They are the only simple Theories of the Christian Church 84 

§ 80. These Theories are mutually exclusive 85 

§ 81. Each Theory is capable of becoming ecumenical in compre- 
hension 87 

§ 82. Their influence on civil government, giving liberty or tyranny. 
— Papacy, Episcopacy, the Puritans, both Presbyterian and 

Congregationalist 88 

§ 83. Each Theory determines the activities of its adherents 93 

§ 84. The utility of this divine evolution of Ecclesiastical systems, 

a forecast of the outcome 94 

LECTURE V. 

the doctrine of the christian church. 
Materials. — Constitutive Principle. 
§ 85. Recapitulation of the chief points reached 97 

The Doctrine of the Christian Church. 

§ 86. Explanation of terms 98 

§ 87. Confusion through various standards of belief 98 

I. The Materials of the Christian Church. 

§ 88. Definition of the term " materials " 100 

§ 89. Materials of the Patriarchal Church 100 

§ 90. Materials of the kahal, or the Ceremonial Church 100 

§ 91. Materials of the Jewish synagogue 101 

Excommunication from kahal and synagogue. 



xii THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 92. Materials of the kingdom of heaven 102 

§93. Materials of the Church of Christ. — Church and kingdom: 

how differ .103 

§ 94. Materials of local churches 104 

(1) The manifestation and the thing manifested need to 
correspond. (2) The New Testament confirms this principle. 
(a) Churches addressed as holy. (6) Spiritual conditions of 
membership required, (c) Baptism symbolizes a changed 
life, (d) A credal test required, (e) Purity through church 
discipline. (/) Wide difference between a church and its 
congregation. (3) The apostolic churches confirm the same. 

§95. This argument not invalidated by imperfections. Nor by 

infant baptism 108 

§ 96. This position a development 108 

II. The Relation of one Local Church to Other Local 
Churches. 

§ 97. All local churches spiritually one and inseparable 109 

§ 98. This unity makes each independent of the rest 110 

§ 99. The rule of discipline rests on this normal relation Ill 

(1) The '' church " in Matt. 18 : 17 the local church, (a) 
It was not the company of believers before Pentecost. (6) 
It was not the Jewish synagogue, (c) The rule not given 
for Ceremonial Dispensation, (d) It was given to local 
churches. (2) The action of the local church final. (3) 
Its finality confirmed by "binding" and "loosing." 
§100. The election of officers rests on the independence of each 

church 114 

(1) The election of an apostle. (2) The election of the 
seven almoners, or deacons. (3) The election of delegates. 
(4) The election of elders, or presbyters. 

§ 101. Their general relations indicate their independence 116 

§ 102. They thus follow their model, the synagogue 117 

§ 103. The Apostolic Fathers confirm this independence 118 

III. The Primitive Churches not Subordinate to Any Central- 
ized Ecclesiastical Authority. 

§ 104. Their spiritual unity seeks visible union under Christ 119 

§ 105. Reasons why the ecdesia dropped the authority of the kahal . .119 
(1) The authority of the kahal in the ceremonial law ful- 
filled and abolished. (2) The authority of the kahal in the 
state abolished in the ecdesia. (3) The ecdesia thus stripped 
of authority. 

§ 106. Hence the churches not subject to an Infallible Primate 121 

§ 107. The churches not subject to an Episcopate 123 

§ 108. The churches not subject to a Presbytery or General Assemblyl25 



CONTENTS. xiii 

§ 109. The independence of the primitive churches conceded 126 

§110. Authority beyond itself not an element of any ecclesia^ but 

instead independence 128 

(1) Congregationalism therefore follows. (2) The only 
escape is in other standards than the Bible. (3) The Presby- 
terians have no such escape. (4) The evolution of Congre- 
gationalism has the promise of the future. 

LECTURE VI. 
the doctrine of the christian church. 
The Christian Ministry. 
§111. The ministry precedes the churches, and is not an official 

relation 131 

§ 112. The Christian ministry not a priesthood 132 

(1) A priest is one who offers sacrifices. (2) Christ the 
Christian's Priest and High Priest. (3) He absorbed and 
abolished the priesthood. (4) A priesthood and mass im- 
peach Christ's atonement. 
§113. The ministry of the Word a function of the Church-kingdom. 134 
(1) The ministerial function not exclusive. (2) The min- 
istry prepared and called by Christ. (3) Recognition of the 
divine call in ordination distinguishes the ministry from the 
laity. (4) The ministry in what sense independent of the 
churches. (5) The ministry not prelatical. (6) The min- 
istry a special and a permanent function. 

I. The Temporary Ministry of the Word. 

§ 114. The apostles of our Lord 138 

§ 115. The qualifications of the apostles 138 

(1) Personal selection by Christ. (2) Personalinstruction 

by Christ. (3) Inspiration by the Holy Spirit. (4) Special 

miraculous power. (5) Special authority. (6) Equality in 

rank and order. 

§ 116. The apostolate temporary 140 

(1) Its special nature proves its temporary nature. (2) Its 

quaUfications not continued. (3) No successors of the 

apostles. (4) Church organization completed during the 

apostolate. 

§ 117. The Prophets 142 

(1) Distinguished from the Old Testament prophets. (2) 

Had the gift of inspired utterance. (3) Their ministry 

temporary. 

II. The Permanent Ministry of the Word. 

§ 118. This ministry called by different names 143 

(1) Teachers. — Three lists of ministers. (2) Evangelists, 



xiv THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

or missionaries. (3) Elders, or presbyters. (4) Bishops the 
same as elders and pastors. (5) Pastors, shepherds. (6) 
Rulers in the churches. (7) Leaders, chiefs. (8) "The 
angels of the churches." 

§ 119. The qualifications of the Permanent Ministry 147 

(1) Personal character. (2) Personal reputation. (3) 
Domestic relations. (4) Natural and spiritual gifts. (5) 
Preparation and study. (6) Examples to the people. 

§ 120. Provision for the perpetuity of the ministry 149- 

§ 121. The ministry recognized in ordination 150 

(1) Ordination of some sort to be expected. (2) Ordina- 
tion by imposition of hands and prayer. (3) Significance of 
ordination. (4) Ordination an ecclesiastical recognition of 
the ministerial function, not of the pastorate. (5) Ordination 
is by the churches. (6) Ordination confers no special gift or 
grace. 

§ 122. The ministerial standing of the ordained. — Meaning of the 

term 154 

§ 123. All communions hold to ministerial standing. — Congregation- 

alists 155 

§ 124. Where ministerial standing should be held 15? 

(1) Not in the civil courts. (2) Not in local churches. 
(3) Not in a council of churches. (4) Not in unassociated 
churches. (5) Not in ministerial associations. (6) But in 
associations of churches. (7) Standing therein safe and 
essential. (8) Ministerial standing recognized by the Na- 
tional Council. 

§125. This ministerial standing protects and completes our polity.. 163 

LECTURE Vn. 
the doctrine of the christian church. 
The Churches and their Officers. 
§126. Meaning of the words "church" and "churches" in the 

New Testament. Acts 9 : 31 no exception 166; 

(1) It may mean the scattered church of Jerusalem, or (2) 
It may mean the whole body of believers, " the holy Catholic 
Church." 

§ 127. The city churches severally one congregation 168 

(1) Many converted at Pentecost returned home. (2) May 
have met in several places for worship. (3) Lender the same 
officers. (4) Consistent with Congregationalism. 

§ 128, Definition of a local church 17(y- 

^ 129. A church not a voluntary society 171 

1 130. Members in a church on an equality 171 



CONTENTS. JSY 

Church Officers. 

§ 131. Church elders or pastors 172 

(1) Their appointment by the church. (2) A plurality in 
every primitive church. (3) Duties of church elders or 
bishops. (4) Elders have a twofold membership — as Chris- 
tians — as ministers. (5) Their accountability also twofold. 
— Their church accountability. (6) Inauguration into the 
pastorate. — Installation. 

§ 132. Deacons, or the ministry of tables 17& 

(1) Origin of the office. (2) Duties of deacons. (3) A 
lay office. (4) Qualifications for the diaconate. (5) Dea- 
cons should be ordained. (6) Their authority one of func- 
tion. (7) Elected sometimes for a term of years. 

§ 133. RuUng elders 181 

(1) Two theories of the ruling eldership — ministerial and 
lay. (2) Duties of ruling elders under each theory. (3) 
The primitive ruling elders ministers. — No lay elders in the 
New Testament. (4) Theory of lay eldership falling. 

§ 134. Need of a board of rulers in a church 184 

§ 135. How Scripturally met. — A Church Board 185 

§ 136. Duties of such Church Board ia6 

§ 137. The church clerk 186 

(1) Qualifications for the office. (2) The duties of the 
clerk. 

§ 138. The church treasurer 187 

(1) A perpetual need makes the office permanent. (2) 
Qualifications of a treasurer. (3) Duties of a church treas- 
urer and of a parish treasurer. 
§ 139. Special church committee. — Sunday-school superintendent . . -189 

§ 140. Church officers rulers in a church 190 

(1) Church can remove them. (2) No officer has the right 
of veto. 
§ 141. Church officers guides of the church 191 

LECTURE Vin. 

the doctrine of the christian church. 

Worship and Sacraments. 

§ 142. Worship essential to the idea of a church 194 

§ 143. The nature of Christic*n worship 195 

(1) Worship must be in spirit and truth. (2) It must be 
offered in the name of Christ. (3) It must be in faith and 
penitence. 

§ 144. The ends of church worship 196 

(1) The glory of God its chief end. (2) Christian edifica- 
tion. (3) The conversion of unbelievers. 



xvi THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

§ 145. ITie form of worship should meet both the nature and ends of 

. worship 197 

(1) No Christian form revealed. (2) The best form flexi- 
ble and changeable. (3) Hence liberty to change given the 
churches. 
§ 146. Variety in the worship of the primitive churches 198 

(1) Worship of the Jewish synagogue. (2) Elements of 
worship in apostolic churches. (3) Later form of worship. 
(4) The three oldest Liturgies. (5) The Great Reformation 
changed forms of worship. (6) A clearer conception of 
worship appearing. 
§ 147. The value of Liturgies in church services 202 

(1) No liturgy imposed by Christ or his apostles. (2) 
Liturgies have been generally used. (3) Liturgies not essen- 
tially connected with polity. 

The Church Sacraments. 

§ 148. The Christian worship centers in the sacraments 205 

(1) Their number — seven or two. (2) Only Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper are sacraments, (a) Confirmation. (6) 
Penance, (c) Orders, (d) Marriage, (e) Extreme Unction. 
(/) Feet- washing. (3) Confirmed by the nature of a sacra- 
ment. — Quaker view. — Church view. 

§ 149. Baptism 207 

(1) It superseded circumcision in the covenant of God. 
(2) Baptism required of all believers after Pentecost. (3) 
John's baptism not Christian baptism. 

§ 150. The essential elements of baptism 209 

(1) Water, the purer the better. (2) The intent to bap- 
tize. (3) Into the name of the Trinity. (4) But once 
administered. 

§ 151. The mode of baptism various 210 

§ 152. The subjects of baptism 211 

(1) They are unbaptized converts. (2) Also infant chil- 
dren of believers. (3) But not the children of unbelievers. 

§ 153. The relation of baptized children to the church. Theories 213 

(1) Made full members by baptism. (2) Baptism and con- 
firmation make full members. (3) Baptism and an orderly 
life make full members. (4) Baptism with public confession 
makes full members. (5) Baptism only a consecration, having 
no effect on membership. (6) The Baptist position contrary 
to the covenant of grace. 

§154. The Lord's Supper. — Names 216 

(1) A memorial, not a sacrifice. (2) It superseded the 
passover. (3) To be often repeated. (4) The elements used, 
bread and wine. (5) The mode of celebrating the supper 



CONTENTS. xvii 

diverse. (6) Should be celebrated by members in both 
kinds. 
§ 155. The communicants » 218 

(1) Determined by different conditions in different 
churches. (2) All agree in requiring these prerequisites : 
(a) Belief in Christ. (&) Baptism, (c) Church member- 
ship, (d) Confirmed by the communicants of the passover. 
(3) These terms confirmed by Scripture, history, and nature. 
(a) Judas Iscariot did not participate in the supper. (6) 
Primitive churches excluded all but full members from the 
room, (c) The nature of the case excludes non-members 
from the Eucharist, (d) These terms regulate our fellow- 
ship at the table. (4) These terms may not be increased in 
number. 
§ 156. The invitation to the Eucharist should conform to these terms. 224 

(1) The common invitation regards them. (2) The pastor 
can not control the invitation. 
§ 157. Who may administer the sacraments 225 

(1) Ordinarily ordained ministers. (2) Laymen may some- 
times administer; since (3) Validity and efficacy not de- 
pendent on the administrator; but laymen should adminis- 
ter, (a) Only in pressing exigencies, (h) Only by vote of 
the church. (4) Ordination not an essential element, but 
required ordinarily for administering the sacraments. 

LECTUEE IX. 

the doctrine of the christian church. 

Discipline. 

§ 158. A church must have some form of discipline 229 

§ 159. This discipline covers the general management, as : 230 

(1) The order of church services. (2) The times of 
church meetings. (3) The rules of procedure. (4) The 
regularity of procedure. 

DEALING WITH OFFENDERS. 

§ 160. Preliminary considerations 231 

(1) Discipline determined by the theory of the Church. 
(2) Defects in discipline of little weight. (3) Drift in disci- 
pline decisive. (4) Study of discipline needed, (a) Because 
discipline is common. (&) Because mistakes in discipline 
rend churches. (5) Congregationalism has essentially one 
discipline. 

§ 161. The permanent authority of discipline, where located 233 

(1) This authority not original but derived. (2) Placed 
by Christ in local churches. (3) This authority limited. 



xviii THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 162. The subjects of church discipline 235 

(1) Lay oflEicers. (2) Ministers require a twofold process 
— one as church members, another as ministers. (3) Bap- 
tized children not subjects. 

§ 163. The offences demanding discipline 235 

(1) Denial of cardinal doctrines. (2) Scandalous offences. 
(3) Private wrongs, violations of covenant. 

§ 164. The duty of discipline 23a 

(1) Authority joined with discretion. (2) The function of 
the church involves discretion. (3) Discretion varies disci- 
pline. — Intemperance. 

§ 165. The ends of church discipline 240 

(1) The reclamation of the offender. (2) The purity of 
the church. 

§ 166. The rule, or steps, of discipline 241 

(1) The first step. (2) The second step. (3) The third 
step. (4) The final step. (5) These steps complete and 
final. 

SOME QUESTIONS RESPECTING CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

§ 167. Should all cases be treated alike ? 244 

§ 168. When should the first step be taken? 244 

§ 169. Should a second private interview be sought ? 245 

§ 170. Does asking for a letter forestall discipline? 245 

§ 171. Does granting a letter preclude discipline? 246 

§ 172. How should a case be brought before the church? 246 

§ 173. How should the church conduct the case? 247 

§ 174. May not discipline be had by jury trial? 249 

§175. What rules control evidence in discipline? — Hearsay evi- 
dence ? 250 

§ 176. May legal counsel plead in church trials ? 252 

§ 177. What censures may be inflicted ? — Lifting the censure 254 

§ 178. Should the censure be announced publicly? 255 

§ 179. Are witnesses and others protected by the law? 255 

§ 180. When do irregularities in procedure invalidate action? 256 

§181. Who may vote in church matters? =.. 257 

§ 182. What is the validity of votes when a majority do not vote? 259 

§ 183. Can members be dropped from the church roll ? , 259 

§ 184. What part may a pastor take in discipline ? 261 

§185. Can a local church complete the discipline of a ministerial 

member ? 261 

§ 186. What redress is there if a church do wrong? 262 

LECTUEE X. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
FeLLOWSHH". 

§ 187. Independent churches bound in the closest fellowship 264 



CONTENTS, xix 

§ 188. Church fellowship is the communion of churches 264 

§ 189. Church fellowship a necessity 265 

§ 190. Church fellowship not peculiar to any polity 265 

§ 191. The vehicle of centralization 266 

§ 192. Church fellowship fully exhibited under liberty 266 

OCCASIONAL COUNCILS. 

§ 193. Origin of the system of councils 267 

(1) It has a warrant in the New Testament. (2) Early 
general councils. (3) The system of councils in New Eng- 
land born of the union of Church and State, (a) Otherwise 
it would have appeared elsewhere. (6) If normal, the sys- 
tem would have spread, (c) Its political fostering in New 
England. (4) Councils limited by nature and call. 

§ 194. Description of the system of councils 272 

(1) Definition of a council. (2) By whom called. (3) 
Assembled by letters missive. (4) Those calling determine 
the membership. (5) Rights of members in councils. (6) 
A quorum of a council. (7) Objects of councils. (8) 
Scope of councils narrow. — Communion more comprehen- 
sive than advice, (9) The size of councils. (10) Kinds of 
councils, (a) Councils called by one party — uni parte, (p) 
Councils called by parties in agreement — duo parte, (c) 
Councils called by parties in disagreement — mutual. ((?) 
Councils called by one party in a controversy — ex parte.. 
(11) Some councils easily confounded with others, (a) As 
councils in lay discipline — uni parte with ex parte. (6) As 
councils of friends — duo parte with mutual, (c) " The 
third may," when ex parte, (12) Mode of procedure in 
councils. (13) The " result " of councils. (14) Councils 
dissolved on adjournment without day. 

QUESTIONS ON COUNCILS. 

§ 195. What is the force of usage in Congregationalism? 279 

§ 196. Is the result of a council divisible? 280 

§ 197. Is there the right of challenge in selecting councils? 280 

§198. Is there not danger of packing councils? — Associations 

better, with appeal to mutual councils 280 

§ 199. Can an association be a party to a council ? 282 

(1) Parties most interested may call councils. (2) Past 
usage can not prevent change. (3) Similar councils have 
been called. (4) The need of such councils urgent. (5) 
They adjust our polity to its expanding conditions. 

§ 200. What part have councils in ministerial discipline? 284 

(1) Ministers amenable to the churches as ministers. (2) 
Churches in any locality have "the inalienable right" to 



XX THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

give or withhold fellowship. (3) The method of using the 
right separable from the right itself. — Councils render the 
right practically inoperative. (4) The inalienable right de- 
mands change to ministerial standing in associations of 
churches. (5) Mutual councils then needed for redress of 
wrongs or for completing process of discipline. 

§ 201. May a council depose a minister? 287 

(1) The ministerial function and call. (2) Ordination the 
recognition of these. (3) Not the conferring of character, 
grace, or the Holy Spirit. (4) Withdrawal of ordination by 
council deposition. 

§202. Why may not councils yield to associations of churches in 

ordination and in deposition ? 288 

(1) Nothing to prevent the change but usage. (2) An 
association of churches better than a council, (a) It in- 
cludes the churches in any locality, which a council may not 
do. (6) It can correct mistakes, which a council can not. 
(c) Neither method interferes with church independence. 
{d) If an association ordain, it should depose, (e) Economy 
favors associations in many states. (3) These reasons favor 
associations of churches. 

§ 203. May not installation give place to recognition? 290 

§ 204. Are councils adequate safeguards ? 290 

(1) They reach only one third of our pastors and one 
fourth of our ministers. (2) This decadence has occurred 
in the face of urgent appeals for installation. (3) Councils 
are thus failing safeguards and inadequate. 

MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 

§205. Ministerial associations express church fellowship in an in- 
direct way 292 

(1) Definition of ministerial associations. (2) Their origin. 
(3) Their object. (4) Ministerial standing sometimes held in 
such associations. (5) Ministerial associations temporary in 
nature. 

CHURCH ASSOCIATIONS. 

§ 206. Definition of associations of churches. — Names .... 295 

§ 207. Importance of church associations 295 

§ 208. Origin of church associations 296 

(1) The General Court as a lay association. (2) Earliest 
associations in America. (3) Earliest associations in Eng- 
land. 

§ 209. Membership and functions of church associations 298 

''Tlie inalienable right of churches in any locality." 
§ 210. Associations possess no authority over churches 300 



CONTENTS. xxi 

§ 211. Process of expulsion from an association of churches 301 

(1) An association ordaining should depose. (2) An asso- 
ciation bound to labor with and depose the unworthy. (3) 
Difference between pastorr.l representation and ministerial 
membership or standing in. associations. (4) Expulsion cuts 
off from connection; deposes. 

§ 212. Eelief from injustice in a mutual council 304 

§213. Credentials of ministers and churches. — Dual contents of 

Presbyterian credentials 304 

§ 214. Our churches evolving this normal system of church associa- 
tions 305 

Note. — Origin of The ^N'ational Council of the Congrega- 
tional Churches of the United States. 306 



LECTUEE XI. 

the doctrine of the christian church. 
Activities and Relations. 

§ 215. The churches commissioned to evangelize the world 312 

§ 216. Work committed to each local church 312 

(1) Training the children and candidates for admission. — 
Sunday-schools. (2) Parish evangelization. 

§ 217. Churches should cooperate in common labors 314 

(1) In ministerial training. (2) In home evangelization. 
(3) In foreign missions. 

§ 218. Methods of cooperation among independent churches 314 

(1) Cooperation of the priuiitive churches. (2) Cooperation 
through voluntary societies. (3) Cooperation through per- 
manent boards of trust. (4y Cooperation through individual 
and delegated trust. (5) Cooperation through association of 
churches. 

§ 219. The normal method of church cooperation 317 

§ 220. Obstacles to be overcome in reaching the normal method 319 

(1) Eeverence for the ways of our fathers. (2) Kegard 
for charters and trust funds. (3) Fear of unwarranted 
Centralization. 

§ 221. Obstacles : how removed in attaining the normal method 320 

§ 222. Advantages of churches managing their common labors 321 

§ 223. Churches, not individuals, the true factors 322 

LEGAL relations OF CHURCHES. 

§ 224. Churches must touch in some points the civil power 323 

§ 225. Churches independent of the State, and dependent upon it .... 324 

§ 226. Their true relation lost in the union of Church and State 325 

§ 227. The Reformation but a partial return 326 



xxii THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 228. Full return in America to the primitive relation 327 

§ 229. The parish system an inheritance from the State 328 

§ 230. The parish contained the legal existence of a church 331 

§231. This inheritance should be rejected for the normal relation, in 

which 332 

(1) The State may legislate respecting church property. 

(2) The State may exempt or tax church propert5^ (3) The 
State may require the teaching of morals and religion in its 
schools. (4) The State may suppress disorder in a church 
and enforce Sunday rest. (5) The State may prevent church 
fines and imprisonment. (6) The State may regulate the 
alienation of church property and trust funds. 

COMITY AMONG CHURCHES. 

§232. Different theories of the Church give different communions 

and require comity 337 

(1) Comity assumes the right of private judgment. (2) 
Comity divides churches into evangelical and unevangelical. 

(3) Comity requires limited fellowship with the evangelical 
churches. It is to be remembered : (a) That the Lord 
established independent churches. (6) That union efforts 
end in denominational results, (c) That other polities deny 
church independence and liberty. (4) Comity can not fel- 
lowship unevangelical churches. 

RELATION OF CHURCHES TO THE WORLD. 

§ 233. The churches are commissioned to evangelize the world, not to 

conform to it 341 



LECTURE XII. 

the doctrine of the christian chukch. 

Creed. — Objections. 

§ 234. Church Creeds of the utmost importance 344 

§ 235. The General Confessions of Congregational Churches 345 

§ 236. The Doctrinal Bases of State Associations * 346 

§ 237. Creeds of local churches 347 

§ 238. Assent of members and pastors to church creeds 347 

§ 239. Safeguard in church councils 348 

§ 240. History vindicates these guards of Orthodoxy 348 

§241. The people the best custodians of faith 350 

§ 242. The peoi)le the best guardians of liberty . .352 

§ 243. Congregational discipline and purity in the faith 353 

§ 244. These safeguards complete 354 



CONTENTS. xxui 

SOME OBJECTIONS TO CONGREGATIONALISM CONSIDERED. 

§ 245. The force of objections 355 

(1) Some objections have no force whatever. (2) Some 
objections lie against faulty administration. (3) Some objec- 
tions have real but not conclusive force. (4) Objections test 
polities and show the best. 

§ 246. Objection from public discipline 357 

§ 247. Objection respecting* unity among churches 357 

§ 248. Objection respecting efficiency. Efficiency : 359 

(1) Hindered by union efforts. (2) Hindered by union of 
Church and State. (3) Hindered by the parish system. 
(4) Hindered by the "Plan of Union." (5) Hindered by 
defects in discipline. (6) Efficiency from use of wisdom. 
(7) Efficiency from use of resources. (8) Complete effi- 
ciency from the union of wisdom and resources. 

§ 249. Objection from centralization in unity 363 

(1) The Master prayed for unity. (2) Fellowship devoid 
of authority. (3) Votes devoid of authority. (4) Our 
churches freed from personal leadership. (5) Our churches 
relieved of ministerial control. (6) They have rejected con- 
' sociationism. (7) They avoid all dangerous centralization in 
their associations. (8) These associations rightly b.alance 
liberty and unity. 
§ 250. Congregationalism, it is objected, would have been an anomaly 

in the first centuries 368 

(1) The gospel not an evolution of nature. (2) The gos- 
pel was, then, an anomaly in the first century. (3) The syn- 
agogues were democratic. (4) Democratic independent 
churches conceded as a fact in the first century. 
§ 251. The edifice too large for the foundation, it is said. — The con- 
stitutive principle can bear ecumenical unity 370 

§ 252. Government not given prominence enough in Congregation- 
alism. — The Scriptural warrant exhausted 370 

J 253. Church government discretionary, it is said 370 

(1) Polity belongs to the essence of the church. (2) Con- 
firmed by convictions of men. (3) The constitutive prin- 
ciple of Congregationalism given in the New Testament. 
(4) The New Testament commands obedience in polity, as in 
doctrine. (5) The future belongs to the primitive polity. 
Conclusion. 
Index 377 



THE CHURCH-KINGDOM 

LECTURES ON CONQREQATIONflLISM. 



LECTURE I. 



THE PATRIAKCHAL DISPE:N^SATI0N AND THE CEEEMONIAL 
DISPENSATION. 

" God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from 
us they should not be made perfect.'''' — Epistle to the Hebrews. 

§ 1. We are called upon in these Lectures to examine as. 
we may be able the external forms of an institution whicK 
had its origin in heaven, which expresses the highest wisdom 
and love of our Father in heaven, which, including the rich- 
est part of human history, will find its full consummation in 
heaven, and which is called in its final earthly form " the 
kingdom of heaven." This wonderful institution, in its- 
widest comprehension, is named the Church of God. 

No one who takes this wide view of our subject can feel 
cramped in its study. For what engages God's wisdom 
and love, all through the ages, from Eden to the end of the 
world, " to the intent that now unto the principalities and 
the powers in the heavenly places might be made known 
through the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according^ 
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our 
Lord"(Eph. 3: 10, 11), — what thus engages God's wisdom 
and love and purpose ought certainly to engage also the 
reverent study of every believer '. but especially the most 
devout inquiry of all who are aspiring to be ministers in this, 
holy Church of God. 



^ THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 2. It is true that we are confined to the outward forms 
of this divine institution, to the exclusion, in large degree, of 
the inner life that animates and fashions those forms ; but 
there is such a reciprocal relation between form and life, and 
organism and the vital energy which develops it, that no one 
who regards the life can disregard the form. Indeed, in 
nature we study life only in and through its organic mani- 
festation ; and in grace we study the life of God in the 
hearts of men, as an energy leavening society and restoring 
righteousness and worship, chiefly in and through the 
Church, the organic manifestation of that life. In the de- 
velopment of the life hid with Christ in God there may 
have been changes of outward form to suit an altered envi- 
ronment ; but in every case the life must be examined in 
and through the organism by which it chiefly manifested 
itself at the time. Alter the organism, and, if the life de- 
manded it, a richer development follows, as when Judaism 
passed upwards into Christianity; but if the life did not 
demand it, decay follows, as when Christianity partially 
passed backwards into Judaism again. Thus a change in the 
outward constitution of religion is the most momentous that 
can come to any people. For " the real history of man is 
the history of religion — the wonderful ways by which the 
different families of the human race advanced towards a 
true knowledge and a deeper love of God. This is the 
foundation that underlies all profane history : it is the light, 
the soul, and life of history, and without it all history would 
indeed be profane." ^ This close relation between form and 
life in religion, and between religion and the history of man, 
gives to church polity a place next to theology. 

§ 3. Indeed, the outward form of the Church goes beyond 
the inner life and fashions theological systems with its 
moulding touch. "It is a significant fact that in the primi- 
tive churches the earliest departure from the gospel was not 
in the false statement of doctrine, but in the perversion of 

1 Max MUUer'3 Chips from a German Workshop, i, 20. 



LIFE APPEABS IN 0BGANI8M. 6 

church government and ordinances. Sacerdotalism and sac- 
ramentarianism led the way to the later corruption of 
Christianity in its doctrinal form." ^ Hence doctrinal re- 
forms should have as their aim the purification of the fountain 
whence the chief doctrinal errors have flowed. And such 
in fact has been their aim. " All the endeavors truly 
reformatory down to the Reformation had the idea of the 
true Church in some form for their basis." And the great 
Reformation was '' the setting forth of a new conception of 
the Church, which . . . derived church authority not from 
a particular order, but from the whole communion." ^ " The 
doctrine of the Church, its due constitution, discipline, and 
worship, is a doctrine of no mean order in the Christian 
system of truth. It is intimately connected with the doc- 
trine of sacred Scripture and with the doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit. The doctrines of regeneration, of the sacraments, 
of sanctification, and even of Christ as the sole Mediator and 
Teacher of men, are intimately connected with it." * 

The nature of the Church as a divine institution, the vital 
influence that outward forms have on the inner life in its 
unfolding, and the irresistible power with which the doctrine 
of the Church has historically moulded, and, in the nature 
of things, must ever mould, other cardinal doctrines, com- 
bine to enforce a study which the superficial brush aside as 
trivial. 

§ 4. We ask, therefore, all who are filled with the spirit of 
Christ to study the organic forms which the life-giving and 
redeeming grace of Christ has taken in its unfolding. It 
appeared first in the family form, which was capable of 
universal extension, but which lacked due expression of 
"the communion of saints," and which, therefore, was not 
suited to a world-wide religion. Then it grew into a 
national form, which, from ethnic and geographical reasons, 
was provincial and exclusive, fostering within narrow limits 

2 The Church, by Prof. H. Harvey, D.D., 16, 17. 
8 Herzog's Ency., condensed trans, vol. i, 681. 
< Principles of Church I'olity, by Prof. George T. Ladd, d.d., 180. 



4 THE CHVBCR' KINGDOM, 

the fellowship of the saints, but totally inadequate for an 
ecumenical religion. From this it flowered into a third 
and final form, which, through the union of particular con- 
gregations, exhibits fully "the communion of saints," and 
which is thus fitted to be an ecumenical and everlasting 
form. We shall pass hastily through the first and second 
forms, as through porches of the true temple, that we may 
dwell in the glory of the third. As we believe the porches 
were built, after divine patterns, so we believe that the 
temple itself was not left to the art of men, but is of God, 
fashioned after an imperishable model. 

§ 5. Christendom is divided into two great sections over 
the definition of the Church of God, especially in its Chris- 
tian form. " One great body, following Calvin and 
embracing a majority of Protestant communities, maintain 
that the Church is invisible ; while the Lutherans, the 
Roman Catholics, the Oriental Christians, and the great 
bulk of the more famous Anglican divines (in accordance 
with the Anglican formularies) maintain it to be visible." ^ 
This line, of course, is broadly drawn. Few, if any, on the 
one side deny that the invisible Church becomes visible in 
suitable organizations, and that too by the operation of its 
own inherent forces ; and few on the other side, except the 
Roman Catholics, deny that the visible Church has an in- 
visible boundary not precisely conterminous with the visible. 
And some Roman Catholics admit that a few outside their 
communion will be saved through invincible ignorance. 
The issue is one of adjusting boundary lines. Are the lines 
of the spiritual realm and the lines of the visible organiza- 
tion identical ? If they are, then the marks or notes of the 
invisible Church are the marks or notes of the visible 
Church ; for both are the same thing. Are the lines that 
bound the invisible Church different from those that bound 
the visible Church ? Then the notes or marks of the one 
are not the notes or marks of the other, but they separate 

B Ency. Brit. 9th ed. v, 759. 



CHUBCH VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 5 

in varying degrees, even unto entire divergence. We shall 
find, we believe, that in no one of the three great forms of 
the Church of God were these lines identical, but instead 
more or less divergent, proving that the visible Church is 
not identical with the invisible. But this will be more fully 
treated hereafter. 

§ 6. But what is the Church of God as manifested in its 
threefold form ? We answer in the words of Prof. Samuel 
Harris, D.D., of Yale Theological Seminary : " The Church 
is the organic outgrowth of the life-giving and redeeming 
grace of Christ penetrating human history in the Holy 
Spirit."^ On this definition, note : (1) That it applies to all 
three dispensations of the Church of God, though particu- 
larly designed to define the Christian Church. (2) That it 
makes the life of Christ penetrating humanity and redeem- 
ing it the germ and root of the Church. (3) That this life 
penetrates history through the Holy Spirit. That life enters 
the individual heart in regeneration and is nurtured in 
sanctification. The Church is not therefore independent of 
Christ and the Spirit in its inception, progress, and consum- 
mation. (4) Yet the Church is not this life, but the organic 
outgrowth of the life-giving and redeeming grace of Christ. 
The Church of God is more than the number of the re- 
deemed ; it is more than the fruits of the Spirit in the hearts 
of the redeemed ; it is more than the atoning work of 
Christ its Head ; it is also an organic outgrowth, " the 
communion of saints." (5) This organic outgrowth or 
manifestation may be, or it may not be, exactly contermi- 
nous with the redeeming grace of Christ penetrating human 
society in the Holy Spirit. The Church is an organic mani- 
festation of an invisible life, which may gather into itself 
some foreign elements, and which may continue to exist as 
an organism for a time after its life-giving energy has been 
withdrawn. 

Now this Church of God, born of the grace of God, 

6 29 Bib. Sacra, 114. 



6 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

begun in Eden, destined to fill the world with glory, and to 
be consummated in heaven (1 Cor. 15 : 24-28), has had three 
forms of organic manifestation, above alluded to, called the 
patriarchal dispensation, the ceremonial or Mosaic dispen- 
sation, and the Christian dispensation — the family, the 
national, and the ecumenical forms. 

We will now trace this organic outgrowth of the grace of 
God in Christ penetrating human society. 

I. — THE PATRIARCHAL DISPENSATION, OR THE FAMILY 
FORM OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 

§ 7. We assume the patriarchal theory of the origin of 
society, which has been stated by Sir Henry Maine to be, 
" ' the origin of society in separate families, held together by 
the authority and protection of the eldest valid male ascend- 
ant. . . . The strongest and wisest male rules. . . . All 
under his protection are on an equality.' This is also Dar- 
win's view. ... At present it must be concluded that the 
most probable theory of the structure of early society is 
that, in a more or less developed form, the family was the 
original unit ; sexual and parental affection point to it, and 
early law and custom confirm it." '^ 

§ 8. But, whatever the origin of human society, this- 
earliest form of the Church of God can not be carried back 
beyond man's apostasy. The Church begins where so many 
sermons begin, at Adam's fall. Had Adam stood in his. 
integrity, the worship he and his posterity would have 
offered unto God would have expressed the beauty of their 
own native holiness. The confession of sin and the re- 
demptive element would have found no place in it. It 
would have been like that of the angels. The Church of" 
God, as we know it, could not in that case have existed. 
This is evident. 

§ 9. The beginnings of the Church of God were in this, 
wise. The life-giving and redeeming grace, of which tha 

7 Prof. George Harris, d.d., 5 Andover Rev. 662, 664. 



PATEIABCHAL DISPENSATION. 7 

Church is the organic outgrowth, was announced to our 
apostate parents in the garden of Eden in a most compre- 
hensive and germinant promise that the seed of the woman 
should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3: 15). When this 
proto-evangel opened the door of hope, there was no Church, 
and no material for a Church, except as sinners could be 
brought to repentance. The love and wisdom of God in a 
plan of redemption had been dimly hinted at, but the prime 
condition essential to the beginning of the Church, peni- 
tence, had not yet been wrought in the heart of man. 

The first recorded appearance of the Church of God in. 
germ was in the sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel (Gen. 
4: 3,4). And it is significant that the scriptural list of 
saints begins with the name of the first martyr (Heb. 11 : 4). 
When the second son of Adam became righteous, we do not 
know ; but worship, both eucharistic and expiatory, either 
by command of God or by the demand of fallen human 
nature, had been instituted long before the special sacrifice 
which God respected and which angered Cain. It seems 
certain that the faith of Abel began the Church of God. 

§ 10. But the life of saints continued to the exodus of 
Israel. There may have been breaks in the succession, even 
after Seth renewed it ; but the great promise of a Saviour 
was handed down through Enoch, Noah, and others, until it 
was confirmed in a covenant with Abraham and with his 
seed. The meager record gives only the great events ; and 
saints seem always to have been few. Indeed, twice the 
Church became almost extinct — at the flood and at the 
call of Abraham. The mingling of the sons of Seth with 
the daughters of Cain ended in the deluge. Through Noah 
God sought to people the earth again with a godly seed. 
But this seed became corrupt, until a single family was 
called, and, to keep it pure, was made to wander up and 
down the promised land. Many others, like Melchizedek, 
may have retained belief in Jehovah, but the sacred narra- 
tive leads apparently to another conclusion. Men knowing 



8 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

God glorified him not as God, but fell into idolatry, save 
the few who continued the genealogy of faith, the Church of 
God, until the giving of the law. 

§ 11. The form of the Church in this period was very 
simple, hardly entitled to the term organic. It is expressed 
by the word patriarchal. The household was the only 
visible organism. Its elements of worship and belief were: 
(1) The Sabbath. The day of rest and of worship was in- 
stituted, we believe, before the apostasy. It was ordained of 
God in man's physical constitution and announced (Gen. 2 : 
2) ; and it was observed after the fall in some fashion, as 
indicated in the moral law (Ex. 20 : 8). (2) Sacrifices. 
These were eucharistic and expiatory (Gen. 4 : 3-5). Wher- 
ever men called upon the name of the Lord, it is probable 
that they did so in connection with such sacrifices. Noah 
(Gen. 8 : 20), Abraham (Gen. 12 : 7, 8 ; 13 : 18 ; 15 : 9 ; 
22 : 1-13), Isaac (Gen. 26 : 25), and ■ Jacob (Gen. 28 : 18 ; 
33 : 20 ; 35 : 14) sacrificed unto the Lord. Their sacrifices 
had in remembrance God's blessings, and also man's sin and 
the promised Saviour ; and were therefore eucharistic and 
expiatory. They were continued down to the giving of the 
law (Job 1 : 5 ; 42 : 8 ; Ex. 10 : 25) ; that is, from the begin- 
ning to the end of the period. (3) A priesthood. The 
patriarch was the priest of his household. This is declared 
of some of the patriarchs ; it is presumptively so of the 
rest. There were no other priests. Hence the term patri- 
archal has been given the period. (4) There was no in- 
itiatory rite at first. Natural birth or purchase or conquest 
introduced into the household and into all the privileges of 
the Church estate. But God's covenant with Abraham was 
sealed by the sign of circumcision. It covered children and 
shives (Gen. 17 : 10-14). This outward rite was the sign 
and seal of a spiritual renewal (Deut. 10 : 16 ; 30 : 6), of the 
covenant of promise (Gal. 3 : 7, 29), and of the life hid with 
CJhrist in God (Col. 3 : 3). It therefore binds the three dis- 
pensations into one covenant (Col. 2 : 11, 12). (5) The 



PATBIABCHAL DISPENSATION. 9 

creed embraced a few and simple beliefs — God, prayer, 
salvation, special promises — on which faith lay hold (Heb. 
11 : 1-29). " To follow np any of the religions thus repre- 
sented, in the true line of their subsequent history, must 
certainly land us in a creed recognizing only one God . . . 
a worship of simple patriarchal sacrifice and prayer, and 
belief in the favor of a personal and merciful God thereby." ^ 
This creed was unwritten, traditional, enlarging as God 
revealed himself to the patriarchs. 

§ 12. This form of the Church, though so simple, was not 
unifying. Natural selection may have drawn the pious into 
some forms of fellowship ; but the only recorded attempt at 
consolidation or solidarity by building the tower of Babel 
was frustrated (Gen. 11 : 1-9). The Jacobs and the Esaus 
could not agree or live in peace ; but neither gathered a 
following after his kind from beyond his own household. 
The form was narrow, clannish, isolating. It could not 
make the people of God one congregation. There was no 
fellowship wider than that of the family circle, unless at 
rare intervals (Gen. 14 : 18-20). 

§ 13. Nor did this form of the Church conserve piety. 
Twice in its progress the Church ran almost out ; but God 
interposed to save it, first, by the ark of Noah (Gen. 6 : 1- 

8 Comp. Hist. Religions, by Prof. J. C. Moflfat, d.d., part i, 246. The Veda are to 
the Aryan or Indo-European family of nations including the English, what Genesis is 
to the Semitic family of nations, including the Hebrew. Max Miiller, in his Chips 
from a German Workshop, vol. i, sect. 1, says : " The religion of the Veda knows of 
no idols;" ''God has established the eternal laws of right and wrong;" "He pun- 
ishes sin and rewards virtue; " "the same God is willing to forgive; just, yet merci- 
ful; " " the idea of faith is found in the Veda, including trust in the gods, and belief in 
their existence; a belief in personal immortality, without a trace of metempsychosis or 
the transmigration of souls." " The Veda is the earliest deposit of the Aryan faith." 
"The religion of the Veda is Polytheism, not Monotheism;" but "not what is com- 
monly understood as Polytheism. Yet it would be equally wrong to call it Monothe- 
ism." 27-44. 

The development in the Bible is upwards into greater clearness and fulness; that of 
the Veda downwards, until in Buddhism religion is lost in a system " without a God," 
" without what goes by the name of ' soul,' " " without an objective heaven," " with- 
out a vicarious saviour," "without rites, prayers, penances, priests, or intercessory 
saints." It is only by accommodation that such a system can be called a religion. 
"The word 'religion' is most inappropriate to apply to Buddhism, which is not a 
religion, but a moral philosophy." Olcott's Buddhist Catechism, ques. 128, i, note. 



10 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

8), and second, by the call of Abraham (Gen. 12 : 1-3). 
By keeping Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob moving to and fro 
as pilgrims and strangers, and by special revelations, God 
preserved a holy seed until it should become a nation. The 
development was in all other cases away from God. This is 
declared by Paul (Rom. 1 : 21-23), indicated by the record 
in Genesis, and supported by a comparison of ancient re- 
ligions. It is said " that the fundamental elements of religion 
are the same in all the ancient records we possess ; and the 
further into antiquity the history is pursued, the more does 
that in which they differ diminish. Consequently, the rea- 
sonable presumption is that if we could follow them all up 
through their history, we should find that the primitive 
religion in each of the cases was identical with that in all 
the rest." ^ Fitted to the condition of the race in its primi- 
tive needs, this form of the church did not conserve piety^ 
nor fellowship nor unity. It was preparatory, not permanent, 

§ 14. There was in the patriarchal dispensation no 
marked separation between saints and sinners. Cain and 
Abel seem to have worshiped together, until God signified 
his approval of the one and disapproval of the other. In 
that act of discrimination a distinction was made between 
an external worship and a service springing from true faith 
in God ; but that distinction aroused the anger of Cain, and 
murder soon silenced the first saint and martyr. Cain was 
driven out, and Seth revived the line of saints. But when 
" the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were 
fair," the line of Seth mingled again with the line of Cain 
(Gen. 6 : 2), until the flood established anew a godly seed 
(Gen. 7 : 1). The call of Abraham was a more marked 
separation, followed by the expulsion of Ishmael and the 
choice of Jacob instead of Esau. 

Then, as now, children of the same parents were not the 
same ; but good and bad shared in the rites and worship of 
the household. The outgrowth of the divine life in the 

9 Moffat's Comp. mst. Relig. i, 246. 



CEBEJ^OXIAL DISPEXSATION. 11 

hearts of men took no discriminating form ; it was bounded 
only by the sacredness of the family. The birthright had in 
it the priesthood of the family and the promise of the father. 
But the faithful and the unfaithful, the righteous and the 
wicked, were in the same household until they instituted 
households and clans of their own, when each followed his 
own bent, the many into idolatry, the few into monotheistic 
beliefs, like the patriarchs of Israel, Melchizedek, and even 
Balaam (Gen. 14 : 18 ; Heb. 7:1; Num. 22 : 9, 18). 

While this family form of the Church could easily have 
become ecumenical, it lacked the essential element of univer- 
sal fellowship. It could not express the communion of 
saints, and did not, therefore, foster piety. Even the cove- 
nant which runs through the three dispensations is a family 
covenant. The life, begotten by the Holy Ghost, began in 
the family relation (Gen. 3 : 15), was nurtured long in the 
household, and is still largely dependent on the family ; but 
in due time it outgrew this narrow limitation, and entered 
upon a second stage of development. 

n. — THE CEEEMOXIAL DISPEXSATIOX, OR THE XATIOXAI, 
FORM OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 

§ 15. Near the close of the preceding dispensation, God 
prepared the way for the evolution of a new and better out of 
the old and inadequate form of the Church. This he did by 
confining the promised seed to the family of Abraham. He 
entered into a covenant with one man, to train him and his 
posterity, in one line, as a peculiar people, the chosen of God, 
until the Messiah should appear to bless " all the families of 
the earth" (Gen. 12: 3). This covenant he ratified in a 
solemn vision (Gen. 15 : 5-18) ; and confirmed unto Isaac 
(Gen. 17: 19; 26: 3) and Jacob (Gen. 28: 13). When the 
sons of Jacob became twelve tribes, and were consolidated 
into one people by the bondage of Egypt, God led them into 
the wilderness to train them, and there he renewed this cove- 
nant with them as a united people. He purposed to weld 



12 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

them into one political and religious life. He said unto all 
Israel : " Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an 
holy nation. And all the people answered together, and 
said : All that the Lord hath spoken we will do " (Ex. 19 : 
6, 8). Thus the whole people as a nation became consecrated 
unto God in church relations (Acts 7: 38); it was hence- 
forth the kahal^ or " the congregation," or Church of Israel, 
and was so treated in all sacred history. The family 
Church thus became a national Church. 

§ 16. This covenant involved true religion, or the life of 
God in the heart, but did not distinguish by rigid tests 
between the holy and the wicked. It required circumcision 
of the heart (Lev. 26 : 41, 42), but the outward sign and 
seal were applied only to males. To observe every ordinance 
and keep every commandment was to be holy ; and yet the 
inner observance is not confounded with the outward per- 
formance (Rom. 2 : 28, 29). This distinction runs in vary- 
ing degrees of clearness through the Avhole sacred record. 
" The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," and similar 
utterances, show that the pious understood the law as exact- 
ing more than external compliance (John 3 : 3-10). 

§ 17. The law followed immediately upon the renewal of 
the covenant. As the nation was also the Church, moral, 
religious, ceremonial, civil, military, and sanitary laws were 
intermingled in one code. Rulers and courts had jurisdiction 
in all matters. The code was specific and inflexible, covering 
the dress of the priests, the form of the tabernacle, the kinds 
of sacrifices, the time and number of feasts, every thing, 
indeed, that pertained to its gorgeous ritual. 

§ 18. The place of worship tended to national unity. 
That place was at first the tabernacle, afterwards the temple. 
During the disorganized period of the judges (Judges 17 : 
6), there was no fixed capital nor stable government, but the 
tabernacle was a movable sanctuary. The law, however, was 
explicit, making one place the center of all worship (Deut. 
12 : 5-7), and so securing " the communion of saints." The 



CEBEMONIAL DISPENSATION. 13 

unifying power of this law was such that Jeroboam, the son 
of Nebat, who rebelled, set up a counterfeit system to 
counteract it (1 Kings 12 : 26-29). He ordered his subjects 
to worship at Dan and Bethel. The civil power, he thought, 
needed the backing of the ecclesiastical, and so he caused 
Israel to sin. 

§ 19. The priestly function of the father was now con- 
fined to Aaron and his posterity. Of this priesthood it may 
be said : (1) That it existed in three orders : the high priest, 
the priests, and the Levites. The Levites, taken instead of 
the firstborn of Israel, could not even see the holy things 
while uncovered ; but they carried and cared for the sacred 
utensils when covered by the priests. The priests offered 
sacrifices as mediators between God and the people. The 
high priest made annual atonement for the whole nation. 
(2) This priesthood was national, chosen from among the 
children of Israel to offer for all the people. (3) It was also 
exclusive. Only the male descendants of Aaron could be 
priests. "The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to 
death " (Num. 18 ; 7). (4) The priests were not, as such, 
rulers in Israel. Priestly, not civil, functions belonged to 
them. The rulers were at first chosen by the people. (5) 
To this priesthood the irregular order of the prophets did not 
belong. The prophets were inspired teachers, whether lay 
or priestly. They came from all classes and conditions in 
society, and were the moral and religious teachers of Israel. 

§ 20. The ritual was minute and inflexible. Nothing in 
it was optional. It was a yoke which could with difficulty 
be borne (Acts 15 : 10). Passing minor matters, it required: 
(1) A bloody initiatory rite, which every male born into the 
nation or admitted to citizenship had to undergo. There 
was one law for the home-born and for the stranger (Ex. 12 : 
48, 49). No male could possess national rights without 
enduring this ecclesiastical rite. (2) The annual festivals 
brought all males three times a year to the ecclesiastical 
capital, if they obeyed the command respecting them (Ex. 



14 TEE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

23: 17; Deut. 16 : 16). (3) Their memorial feast was the 
passover, which was a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). This, 
when last observed by Christ, passed over into the Lord's 
Supper. It was observed in small companies. Thus the 
passover and circumcision became the germs of the Christian 
sacraments. 

§ 21. The creed of this dispensation gathered about 
a belief in one personal and holy God, in the promised Mes- 
siah, in the law revealed on Sinai, and in the revelations 
made by the prophets. It became fuller as the prophets dis- 
closed the glories of the coming reign of the promised Seed. 
Samuel founded the school of the prophets — regular socie- 
ties for the purposes of instruction, the original of colleges, 
seminaries, universities. " Long before Plato had gathered 
his disciples around him in the olive-grove, or Zeno in The 
Portico, these institutions had sprung up under Samuel in 
Judsea." lo 

§ 22. God was the Ruler of this nation and Head of the 
Church. He instituted all laws, ceremonies, rites. He in- 
spired the prophets. He decided causes when appealed to 
him (Deut. 1 : 17). God was the recognized Ruler of the 
people, the judges being his deputies, and the kings his 
viceroys. A " Thus saith the Lord," if properly authenti- 
cated was the end of controversy. The prophets were God's 
interpreters. To withhold tithes was to rob God (Mai. 3 : 
8), and idolatry was adultery (Jer. 3 ; 13 : 27). This dis- 
pensation was a pure theocracy. There was no falling away 
from belief in a personal God, as in other religions ; instead, 
God was made the national Ruler and constant Revealer. 
The prophets, whose writings we possess, would not let 
Israel forget God. Though they could not counteract the 
evils of Jeroboam's separate ecclesiastical establishment 
for the ten tribes, called the kingdom of Israel, they saved 
the kingdom of Judah from a similar fate, and attested to 
both kingdoms the existence, power, justice, and grace of an 
ever-living, personal God. 

1" Hist. Jewish Ch., Dean Stanley, i, 422. 



CEEEMONIAL DISPENSATION. 15 

§ 23. It is worthy of mention that this second, or 
national, form of the Church did not set aside the family, but 
continued it in all its integrity. It did not build a national 
establishment upon the foundation of the individual, but 
upon the foundation of the household. The home continued, 
though its priesthood was absorbed in the Aaronic priesthood. 
The family of Jacob had become the nation. That the 
family continued in full force under this dispensation is evi- 
dent from the laws respecting marriage, the relation of chil- 
dren to parents, the Levirate marriage, the punishment of 
adultery, and the law of inheritance. The law recognized 
and fostered the existence and continuance of families. The 
family was the unit of organization. The people were 
numbered after their families, and circumcision was a house- 
hold rite, as well as a national (Gen. 17 : 12 ; Josh. 5 : 2, 5, 
9). Circumcision was the chief sign of the covenant, which, 
taking its origin in the family, became, as we have seen (§ 20) 
national. 

This most important institution, the family, like the day of 
rest, was perpetuated also in the final and ecumenical form 
-of the Church of God, the Christian dispensation. Develop- 
ment in ecclesiastical matters thus retains the primitive type, 
and what is added to suit new conditions is not destructive 
of the original form. Christianity fosters the home. 

§ 24. Yet in this church form there was the greatest pos- 
sible unity and concentration. There was one place of wor- 
ship ; one priesthood, culminating in one high priest ; one 
initiatory rite ; one ritual ; one system of feasts ; one congre- 
gation, or church; one Head and Ruler, the one living and 
true God. It was a close, exclusive, centralized, unifying 
system, in complete contrast with the preceding dispensation. 
The Church of God was a holy nation, which all believers in 
God must join. This concentration, together with its partic- 
ularity, made the system burdensome in the extreme. Cen- 
tering in the capital, to which all males must go three times 
a year, and filled with minute requirements, this " tutor " 



16 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

became intolerable (Gal. 3: 24; Acts 15 : 10). It was in- 
striking contrast both with the liberty of the gospel (Gal. 4 : 
3-7 ; 5 : 1, 13) and with the cruel tyranny of other religions. 

§ 25. This national Church became inadequate. The fes- 
tal journeys were too severe for the young and aged, too 
long for the distant, and too infrequent for the needs of 
growing spirituality. The temple worship could not be 
carried into Babylon or into the dispersion. How much less 
could it meet the wants of all nations, if converted to Juda- 
ism? It conserved unity and fellowship, and thereby pre- 
served the rich promises of God, but its limitations precluded. 
its ever becoming the religious establishment of the world.. 
It became conscious of this fatal inadequacy : for when it 
had largely served the ends for which it was ordained, the 
life which it had preserved and nourished found its provisions 
inadequate, and added thereto a form of worship in syna- 
gogues which became the germ of the Christian congrega- 
tional worship. Wliile Mosaism was old and vanishing away; 
while the temple was closed and the Church was in exile, and 
the required worship could not be rendered, social neighbor- 
hood worship sprung up, without prophet or priest, which 
soon spread wherever the Jews were scattered, and which 
met the wants of the pious, in reading the sacred books, in 
prayers, and in praise. We have seen how circumcision was 
the link which, extending four hundred and thirty years into 
the patriarchal dispensation, bound it to the ceremonial dis-^ 
pensation ; and we shall see how the congregational worship 
of the synagogue became the organic link that, extending- 
nearly six hundred years into the ceremonial dispensation,, 
bound it to the Christian dispensation. The life of God 
begotten in the hearts of men prepared for enlargement in 
external forms centuries before the actual development 
occurred. 

§ 26. Nor was the extra-legal synagogue worship the only 
prophecy of the coming fulfillment and supersedure of the 
ceremonial law. Moses, who had founded this dispensation,^ 



THE PBEPABATOBY DISPENSATIONS. IT 

had especially predicted its temporary nature (Deut. 18 : 18, 
19). The Law-giver, like unto Moses, should establish a 
new covenant, which should include the Gentiles (Is. 42 : 
6). Daniel became very explicit: "The God of heaven 
shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed " 
(Dan. 2: 44). The Jews understood these predictions; for 
they looked for a coming One, even at the time of his 
appearing, to establish a kingdom. 

It is hardly necessary to add that the ceremonial dispensa- 
tion has been superseded by the Christian. Christ came to 
fulfill and destroy it (Matt. 5 : 17, 18). When he said : " It 
is finished," the veil of the temple was rent in twain, from 
the top to the bottom (Matt. 27 ; 51), opening the most holy 
place in the sacred temple to the gaze and tread of all men. 
This ended the second form of the Church of God, a fact 
repeatedly declared in the Acts and Epistles. The partition 
between Jew and Gentile was broken down (Acts 11 : 12- 
17 ; Eph. 2 : 14, 15 ); circumcision was abolished (Acts 15 : 
1, 24-29). Christ "abolished the law of commandments 
contained in ordinances " (Eph. 2 : 15), and brought in " a 
better hope " (Heb. 7 : 18, 19), under another priest (Heb. 
4 : 14) and law (Heb. 7 : 12). 

§ 27. In concluding this imperfect glance at the prepara- 
tory dispensations, it is of importance to note what parts of 
them, if any, are properly taken up into the Christian dis- 
pensation. We have already referred to the family as run- 
ning through all three dispensations (§ 23 ); so also the 
Sabbath and the covenant of grace (§§ 16, 23). Other com- 
mon elements will appear in our discussion. Here let us 
mark two tendencies : (1) The attempt has sometimes been 
made to return to the family form of the Church. All 
church organizations and all associations of ministers and 
churches, of whatever name, are denounced. Christianity is 
to be, in the view of such, wholly unorganized. Individual 
and family nurture is all that is needed. But the results of 
such nurture, whether in the primitive or in modern times, 



18 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

do not satisfy. Indeed, they indicate that the disintegration 
of organic Christianity would be fatal to piety and missions. 
Hence this tendency is sporadic and transient. (2) The 
more extended and less fatal tendency is the transplanting 
of the ceremonial dispensation into the Christian. The 
priesthood, the ritual, the union of Church and State, the 
infallibility of teaching, have been transferred into the major 
part of Christendom, from which reformations have only 
secured a partial deliverance. 

§ 28. If any one still fancies that polity is of trifling im- 
portance, he needs to recall the price at which the liber- 
ties of Protestantism have been bought ; for it was on the 
field of church polity and through a sea of blood that they 
were won, and it is only on the same field that they can be 
maintained. The Protestant and the Puritan reforms had 
been lost altogether, had they not rested ultimately on a 
theory of the Church, that is, church government. Calvin 
wrote his Institutes, we are told, in order to convert Francis 
L, king of France. " It was a decisive moment in the history 
of the kingdom of God. Had the king, to whom all were 
looking, been converted, the nation would have been con- 
verted, and the conversion of France would have given a new 
character to this portion of history." ^^ To have done this, 
however, the king's conversion must have led him to break 
with Rome ; and his spiritual renewal must have also become 
an ecclesiastical conversion. For had he been regenerated 
by the Spirit, the conversion which Calvin desired would 
have occurred only in part. The reformers looked for more, 
for the adoption also of the great Protestant doctrine of the 
right of private judgment in matters spiritual, out of which 
has come all our liberties. Only such a conversion would 
have changed the history of France and of Europe. For sys- 
tems of theology may come and go under the same polity, 
like floods in a river; even reforms may arise under any 
mode of ecclesiastical government; but unless they reform 

11 Henry's Life of Calviu, 53. 



THE PBEPABATOBY DISPENSATIONS. 19 

the polity by changing its nature, or break loose from it, or 
are cast out by it, the on-rushing stream soon obliterates all 
traces of the reformation. In proof of this, put the histories 
of Germany, Holland, England, and Scotland in contrast with 
the histories of Italy, Spain, France, and Bohemia. Great 
awakenings in the former countries changed their histories, 
but only because they broke away from the polity brought 
over from Judaism; but similar awakenings in the latter 
countries failed utterly, because not carried, from various 
causes, into separation from the Papacy. It has been the 
ecclesiastical reformations that have saved the doctrinal and 
spiritual from beating like tides against the solid rock. As 
before said : " All the endeavors, truly reformatory, down to 
the Reformation had the idea of the true Church in some 
form for their basis." " The Reformation was the setting 
forth of a new conception of the Church." Reforms from 
papal errors and oppressions have failed whenever a new con- 
ception of the Church has for any reason been unable to 
assert itself as an accomplished fact, and such reforms must 
ever fail. 

§ 29. The difficult task falls, therefore, to the lot of 
church polity of separating what is permanent from what is 
transient in the preparatory dispensations, and of embodying 
the permanent while rejecting the transient in the final 
Christian polity. In other words, we are called upon to trace 
the normal development of the outgrowth of the life of God 
in human history from its primitive germs to its perfect real- 
ization. We have seen its growth from the family form into 
the national, which itself looked forward to an ecumenical 
and everlasting form. It is the part of students of church 
polity to unfold the true doctrine of the Church of God in 
its principles and details, while keeping it free from all 
attempted regressions into the outgrown and superseded, and 
from all abnormal developments. Communions, like frag- 
ments, have been broken off from the perverted Christian 
forms, and they have approached more or less closely the 



20 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

normal and final polity. We seek the true ; for we are 
taught by history that a false theory of church government 
carried Christendom to Rome, as it has carried many back 
to Rome since the Reformation. Reforms in false theories, 
until they reach and establish a better doctrine of the 
Church, are floods in a river, tides in the ocean, which come 
and go, and leave things essentially as they were before. 



LECTURE II. 

THE KINGDOM OF HEAYEN AND ITS MANIFESTATION. 

" Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the 
Lord Jesus Christ.'^ — Luke, of Saint Paul. 

in. — THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION, OR THE ECI7MENICAL 
FORM OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. 

§ 30. In tracing the outgrowth of the life of Christ in 
the hearts of men, we passed hastily through the preparatory 
forms, until they developed into the Christian dispensation, 
which is only the kingdom of heaven in manifestation. It 
is evident from the Gospels that Jesus Christ looked upon 
the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, as the foun- 
dation of his Church, or perhaps we should rather say 
that he viewed his Church as the manifestation of his king- 
dom. Hence he dwelt almost exclusively, in his teachings, 
on the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is his common 
phrase. So much the greater, therefore, is our wonder that 
writers on Congregationalism have so largely ignored all 
discussion of the nature and relations of the kingdom of 
heaven ; ^ for the study of the kingdom is the natural approach 
to the study of organic Christianity. Christ viewed his 
mission as the setting up of a kingdom, whose characteristics 
he took great pains to disclose. Church polity should there- 
fore be studied from the stand-point of the kingdom, from 

1 Hanbury, at great pains, has gathered into three large volumes of Historical 
Memorials the history and writings of English Congregationalists from their modern 
beginning to the Restoration, in 3660, but the word kingdom does not occur iu his 
elaborate index. The same is true of Felt's Ecclesiastical History of New England, 
ill two volumes, covering the period from 1620 to 1678. These volumes of Hanburj' and 
Pelt cover the fruitful formative periods of Congregationalism in England and 
America. Dr. Leonard Bacon, Dr. Henry M. Dexter, The Congregational Dictionary, 
rind others, do not treat of the kingdom of heaven, while setting forth its manifestation. 
J<.>hn Cotton's Keyes of the Kingdom devotes only a few lines to the nature of the 
kingdom of heaven. This general silence is ominous, since the term is found so fre- 
quently in the New Testament and since writers of other polities discuss it at length. 



22 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

which Christ and his apostles viewed it. Historical Con- 
gregationalism ought not to be separated from the kingdom 
of heaven as its normal development. Hence we shall seek 
to unfold the external form of the Christian Church, not 
from the imperfect vision of those who revived its primitive 
manifestation under the restrictions of an unfavorable en- 
vironment, but from the clear vision of its Founder and his 
apostles, who gave the interior formative principles. We 
hope thus to reach a wider and completer view of the unity 
and comprehension of the Church than could be obtained by 
any merely historical treatment. We approach this inner, 
central, and comprehensive view with reverence. 

I. — THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

§ 31. It would seem superfluous to prove that Christ es- 
tablished a reign in the world which he called the kingdom 
of heaven, or the kingdom of God, or the kingdom, were it 
not that some have questioned its present establishment. 
We must, therefore, show that the kingdom has been already 
set up, of which the Church is the manifestation. 

(1) The establishment of a kingdom had been predicted. 
God revealed that he had anointed a King whose rule shall 
include the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth 
(Ps. 2 : 6, 8), whose kingdom shall never be transferred or 
destroyed, but which shall become universal and endure for- 
ever (Dan. 2: 44 ; 7: 14, 27). The birth-place of this King 
was declared (Micah 5 : 2), so that the Sanhedrin promptly 
answered Herod's question where the Christ should be born 
(Matt. 2:5), and the star led the magi to the feet of the 
Prince of Peace, when born in Bethlehem. The character of 
this kingdom, in some of its features, and the time and place 
of the birth of its King were foretold. 

(2) Lest the Jews should not be prepared to welcome 
their King and his kingdom, a forerunner came to announce 
both. He cried : " Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand (Matt. 3:2; Mark 1 : 1-8). Even the King himself 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 2S 

took up the same cry (Matt. 4 : 17), and he commanded his 
apostles to proclaim : " The kingdom of heaven is at hand " 
(Matt. 10: 7). The seventy were charged to cry in every 
city and place where Jesus was about to come : " The king- 
dom of God is come nigh unto you " (Luke 10 : 9), and no 
opposition was to prevent their crying it (Luke 10 : 11)» 
Such urgency proves that in the mind of Christ the kingdom 
was not a remote reign, not even now begun, as some teach, 
but instead a near and almost present reign, which enabled 
him even then to say : " Then is the kingdom of God come 
upon you " (Matt. 12 : 28). 

(3) Indeed, the gospel is declared to be the gospel of the 
kingdom. Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 
4: 23; 9: 35; Luke 8 : 1); and he said to the Pharisees: 
" The law and the prophets were until John : from that time 
the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached" (Luke 16 : 
16). Philip preached in Samaria " good tidings concerning 
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ " 
(Acts 8 : 12). And Paul in Corinth reasoned and per- 
suaded as to " the things concerning the kingdom of God " 
(Acts 19: 8). 

(4) Hence it was a natural expression they used when 
they spoke of preaching the kingdom of God. Christ sent 
the Twelve " to preach the kingdom of God " (Luke 9 : 
2), and another to " publish abroad the kingdom of God " 
(Luke 9: 60). Paul "went about preaching the kingdom" 
(Acts 20 : 25), " testifying the kingdom of God," and 
"preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 28: 23, 31). 

(5) The kingdom was to be set up immediately. Christ's 
words are emphatic : " I tell you of a truth. There be some of 
them that stand here, which shall in no wise taste of death, 
till they see the kingdom of God " (Luke 9 : 27). In other 
passages he asserted not a distant, but a present or imme- 
diate, kingdom (Matt. 11 : 12 ; Luke 22 : 29). 

(6) The kingdom as already set up is contrasted with 
the ceremonial or Mosaic dispensation. This is done by 



24 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

Paul as respects meats (Rom. 14 : 17), and also as respects 
glory. " For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, 
much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in 
glory " (2 Cor. 3 : 9). So glorious a thing it is to be a 
Christian that the least in this kingdom are greater than the 
greatest in the ceremonial dispensation (Matt. 11 : 11). 

(7) Christ based his command to evangelize the nations 
on his assumption of regal power. His words are : " All 
authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. 
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations '* 
(Matt. 28: 18,19). 

Thus it seems clear that Christ now reigns in the king- 
dom of heaven, a kingdom so glorious that Mount Sinai 
ceases to be glorious (2 Cor. 3 : 10, 11), and that his 
kingdom is put into sharp contrast with the preceding 
dispensations. The preparatory are merged in the per- 
manent, so far as this world is concerned ; though, in the 
final consummation, even this kingdom shall be delivered 
up unto God the Father, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 
15 : 24-28). Meyer remarks that the expressions, the king- 
dom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom, " never 
signify any thing else than the kingdom of the Messiah, even 
in those passages where they appear to denote the (invisible) 
Church, the moral kingdom of the Christian religion, or such 
like." 2 

§ 32. The kingdom of heaven is the reign of Christ in 
the world as respects redeemed humanity, with its divinely 
revealed destiny, manifesting itself in the Christian dispen- 
sation. There are certain characteristics or notes which 
define the kingdom more accurately, and are more or less 
essential to its existence. 

(1) A kingdom involves the loyalty of its subjects to the 
king. It is so here. Christ is King, and loyalty to him is 
essential. He has the sole power to enact laws. In him 
rests the sole power of executing those laws. If any claim 

2 Com. on Matt. 3 : 2. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 25 

to act for him, they must present their commission. For the 
King is supreme and over all, God blessed forever. He is 
Head over all things to the Church, which is his body (Eph. 
1 : 22, 23). Hence none but he can be called Master (Matt. 
23 : 10). Personal allegiance, or loyalty, is due from each 
and every one, and exists, so far as his reign extends, in 
human hearts. " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
them, and they follow me " (John 10 : 27), are his tender 
words. There can be neither neutrality (Matt. 12 : 30) nor 
divided service (Matt. 6 : 24). To guide them into 
all the truth, he sent his Spirit to take his place with his 
disciples (John 14 : 26 ; 16 : 13), so that what the apostles 
taught was " the commandment of the Lord " (1 Cor. 14 : 37). 
This loyalty involves love, faith, obedience, all secured and 
nourished by the abounding grace of the King. 

(2) Unity is also an essential element of the kingdom. 
The kingdom is one, and not many. It can not be divided. 
A part can not be severed from the rest and remain still a 
part of the kingdom. To be separated from it is to 
apostatize. It is one and inseparable, now and forever 
(Matt. 12: 25). 

(3) Another essential characteristic is holiness. It is a 
holy kingdom. Its King is sinless ; and his life, penetrating 
humanity through the Holy Ghost, begets a kindred holy 
life, while the past sins are forgiven (Rom. 3: 25, 26). 
Christ abides in the believing subject " the hope of glory " 
(John 14 : 23 ; Col. 1 : 27), and the saint becomes thus a 
partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The kingdom 
is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 
14 : 17), which the wicked can not enter into or inherit (John 
3 : 3, 5 ; 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5 : 21 ; Eph. 5 : 4, 5). 

(4) This kingdom is invisible ; that is, while it manifests 
itself in life and institutions, and must do so, that manifesta- 
tion is neither identical nor conterminous with the kingdom. 
Hence while in the world the kingdom is not of the world 
(John 18 : 33, 36) ; its subjects can not be known exactly 



26 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

except by the King (2 Tim. 2 : 19) ; many claiming to belong' 
to it do not (Matt. .7 : 21-23) : for its tests are not outward 
rites, but a new creature (Gal. 6 : 15). Such a kingdom 
has no metes and bounds that are every-where discernible by 
men. Judas and Ananias and Magus deceived the apostles. 
Hence invisibility characterizes the kingdom. We see the 
manifestation, but we can not discern precisely where the 
Spirit operates (John 3:8). We stand here at the parting of 
the ways, and the wrong road, as we shall in due time see,, 
leads to Rome (§ 32 : 5). 

(5) Infallibility may also be predicated of the kingdom : 
for a kingdom includes king, laws, and subjects. The King 
is infallible ; his laws are infallible ; and so we may speak of 
the kingdom as infallible, though its subjects err in judg- 
ment and in heart. The inspiration given by the King to 
prophet and apostle was also infallible. Make the kingdom 
and its manifestation identical, as the Romanists do, and we 
have, by one short step. Papal infallibility. Through fear 
we will not deny the fact that infallibility belongs as an 
essential element to the kingdom of heaven. For its King 
is infallible ; the Spirit animating the kingdom is infallible ; 
its law is infallible (John 1:1; Col. 2:3; John 16 : 13 ; 1 
Cor. 14 : 37). But, notwithstanding this, infallibility can not. 
be predicated of the manifestation of the kingdom, since that 
manifestation passes through a fallible medium, human 
nature. Yet the nearer an ecumenical agreement among 
saints is reached, the more is individual infirmity eliminated 
and ecclesiastical infallibility attained. This arises from the 
working of God in believers' hearts, for his good pleasure 
(Phil. 2: 13). The Romish error runs nearer the truth 
than Protestants have imagined. If the bold assumption 
that the kingdom of heaven and the Roman Catholic Church 
are one and identical be granted. Papal infallibility follows. 
We hold the infallibility of the kingdom, but deny the 
infallibility of the churches : for the kingdom and the visible: 
manifestation are not identical. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 27 

(6) The kingdom is without end, everlasting, perpetual 
(Dan. 7: 14; Luke 1: 33). It is called "the eternal king- 
dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " (2 Peter 1 : 
11). Its subjects are bought with "an eternal redemption,'^ 
and rewarded with " eternal life," " eternal comfort," " eter- 
nal salvation," "the eternal inheritance," and an "eternal 
weight of glory." Perpetuity is therefore a characteristic 
of it. This perpetuity precludes change. The Christian is 
not to give place to another dispensation. It will continue 
to the end of the world, when the mediatorial King will 
" deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father . . . that 
God may be all in all " (1 Cor. 15 : 24-28) ; yet the kingdom 
exists in glory forever. 

(7) Before that great and notable day the kingdom will 
gather into itself all the nations. It will become universal 
in extent and comprehension (Matt. 13 : 31-33 ; 28 : 19 ; 
Eev. 11: 15; Dan. 7: 13, 14). Universality is a distin- 
guishing mark of the kingdom. 

(8) Among the innumerable subjects of this kingdom,, 
there is equality. It is not a kingdom of classes and hie- 
rarchies. It has no aristocracy. It is a brotherhood and 
therefore a democracy, the republic of God. The greatest 
in the kingdom are those who serve and obey best (Matt. 5 :: 
19; 23 : 11). Ambition for place is repressed, and all must 
become as little children (Matt. 18: 1-3). There is but 
one Master ; all others are brethren (Matt. 23 : 8-10). To 
enter the kingdom all must be born anew, and all must have 
love, faith, repentance. The same privileges are opened to 
all, and the same trials are to be endured by all. All have 
essentially the same duties and the same rewards. Even the 
King humbled himself to the condition of a servant, that he 
might be the firstborn among many brethren (Phil. 2 : 5-11 ; 
Rom. 8 : 29). All in it are one (Gal. 3 : 28). 

§ 33. The kingdom of heaven is thus marked by loyalty, 
unity, holiness, invisibility, infallibility, perpetuity, univer- 
sality, and equality. The notes, or characteristics, are some- 



28 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

times carried up to fifteen and sometimes reduced to four. 
But whether less or more, they distinguish the kingdom of 
heaven from all other kingdoms. It is peculiar. It is unlike 
the preceding dispensations. It is the consummate out- 
growth of the life of God in human history and is worthy 
the admiring study of angels (1 Peter 1 : 12) and the 
acceptance of all men (Rev. 15 : 3, 4). It has been defined 
as " The gathering together of men, under God's eternal 
law of righteous love, by the vital power of his redeeming 
love in Jesus Christ, brought to bear upon them through the 
Holy Spirit." ^ 

Dr. Candlish makes the kingdom cover, as we have done, 
both reign, or exercise of kingly power, and realm, or sub- 
jects of such power. The kingdom is " a society bound 
together by certain laws and ruled by a power which guides 
the action of the parts and of the whole to an end that is 
adequate and good." ^ We can but think that the best defi- 
nition is that which enumerates the characteristics of the 
kingdom. 

§ 34. The kingdom is still more clearly defined by ob- 
serving the conditions of admission into it. Those condi- 
tions must correspond, of course, with the nature of the 
kingdom. As the kingdom is spiritual and holy, a man is 
not admitted by natural birth, but by the renewal of the 
heart (John 1 : 13 ; 3 : 3, 5) ; nor can outward rites admit 
to it, but only a new creation (Gal. 6 : 15), which issues in 
" repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ" (Acts 20: 21). And these conditions are essen- 
tially the same as were required under the preparatory dispen- 
sations, as is shown in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. 
They, through grace, make a man holy, spiritually minded, 
a true child of Abraham (2 Chron. 7 : 14 ; Is. 55 : 7 ; Rom. 
2: 28, 29; 8: 5-8; Gal. 3: 29). 

§ 35. The kingdom is still to be distinguished from what 

3 The Kingdom of God, by Prof. J. S. Candlish, d.d., 197. 

4 Ibid. 399. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 29 

is called the Churcli universal, which includes all the saved. 
There is one flock and one Shepherd (John 10 : 16), one 
body and one Head (Eph. 5 : 29, 30), one Mediator (1 Tim. 
2 : 5), and one Name by which men can be saved (Acts 4: 
12). To be out of this Church is to be destitute of love, 
faith, penitence, salvation. Here again we see the perver- 
sion which Rome makes in applying to the Roman Catholic 
Church what is true only of the Church universal, namely : 
"Out of the Church there is no salvation." In making its 
own visible communion the only true Church of God, the 
Roman Church must make baptism essential, or "necessary 
unto salvation." " It is impossible to be saved without it."^ 
The Church of God, or the Church universal, includes all 
the saved in all the dispensations of grace and is wider than 
the kingdom of heaven. 

§ 36. (1) The kingdom of heaven is partly on earth and 
partly in heaven, and is constantly coming. Its incarnate 
King ascended into heaven at his inauguration, saying, " All 
authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. 
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations," etc. 
(Matt. 28 : 18, 19). He reigns King of kings and Lord of 
lords, synchronizing, or timing, his providential rule with 
the work of his Spirit, so as to bring the best results out of 
the labors of his disciples, while preparing the nations for 
evangelization. He shall thus govern until every knee shall 
bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2 : 10, 11), and until he 
shall deliver up his kingdom unto the Father (1 Cor. 15 : 
24). He thus reigns in heaven. Besides this, all who die 
in him go to be with him where he is (Luke 23 : 43 ; Acts 
7: 59; Rev. 7:9). They are in the kingdom still, but 
enjoying its glory. Others are in the kingdom on earth, 
training in the school of Christ, under the eye of the Master, 
for the same blessed abode. Thus a part are over the river, 
a part are crossing now, a part are following on — all cheered 
by the smile of their ascended and glorified King. 

5 Canons of Trent, on Baptism, v; Cat. of rerseverance, 210. 



30 THE C HUB CH' KINGDOM. 

(2) It is manifest that the kingdom must be constantly 
coming, or else all the saints would soon be in heaven. The 
Spirit is continually renewing the hearts of men and sanc- 
tifying them, and so the leaven is working, the mustard-seed 
is growing, and the kingdom is extending. The line of 
progress is not steady ; it wavers here and there ; it advances 
and recedes now and then ; but on the whole, it is advancing, 
with the promise of final conquest. Christ " must reign, till 
he hath put all his enemies under his feet" (1 Cor. 15 : 25). 
The prayer, " Thy kingdom come," is being answered. 

Thus Christ has already set up a kingdom upon earth, 
peculiar in its notes or characteristics. Such a kingdom 
must manifest itself, and, coming into a world of sin, it 
must cause strife and stir (Matt. 10 : 34-36). It is revolu- 
tionary, overturning whatever opposes, and reconstructing 
on the principles of righteousness and peace and joy in the 
Holy Ghost. This will go on until the final consummation. 

II. — THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IN MANIFESTATION. 

§ 37. It is the nature of life to manifest itself in some 
organism ; and the life of Christ, penetrating human history, 
— constituting a spiritual, holy, progressive kingdom, — 
must manifest itself in human conduct and institutions. It 
can not be hidden. The leaven, by the law of its being, 
must work. The seed must grow or die. Light must 
shine, and fire burn. So in a world *' dead through tres- 
passes and sins " (Eph. 2 : 1), the life of God, to reach its 
ends, must renew the heart of the individual, establish the 
communion of saints, and found institutions for fellowship 
and nurture. The redemption of a lost world must be a 
manifested work. But as the kingdom of heaven is a devel- 
opment from the preceding dispensations, its manifestation 
must show close connection with them. There is more than 
a mere succession; there is also a continuation. There is a 
unity of life running through the patriarchal, the ceremo- 



THE KINGDOM MANIFESTED. 31 

nial, and the Christian dispensations, as unity of life runs 
through the larva, the chrysalis, and the butterfly. We can 
trace this continuity. 

(1) The ceremonial dispensation was bound to the patri- 
archal, not only by love, and faith, and repentance, and the 
redemptive scheme, but also by a special covenant made 
with Abraham and sealed by circumcision. The Seed of the 
woman, the Messiah, constitutes the central unity, the divine 
bond of continuity, as the covenant and seal constitute the 
organic lines of development. 

(2) The Christian divspensation was bound to the cere- 
monial as a flower to its stem, not only by love, faith, 
repentance, the covenant, and the Messiah and King, but 
also by rites and forms of worship. " The Church polity of 
our first century does not present itself as a fresh creation, 
l)ut rather as a continuation of a regime already there, 
simply modified to fit the needs of the new spiritual life and 
purposes." ^ Here too there was more than a succession : 
there was a continuation, a development. 

§ 38. But the method of this development, and hence of 
manifestation, was not comprehended by the Jews. How 
the Son of David should ascend the throne of his father and 
Tule the world was by no means clear, not even to his chosen 
apostles (Acts 1 : 6), while his disciples held a most per- 
verted conception respecting it (John 6 : 15). Yet the 
spiritual nature of the kingdom had been revealed, and it 
was in ways suited thereto that Jesus sought to establish 
and manifest his glorious kingdom. A process of separation 
along a spiritual line was begun by John the Baptist in the 
baptism of repentance. He separated the Jews, imperfectly 
indeed, on the line of faith and repentance (Matt. 3 : 5, 6), 
as they were separated from others on the line of carnal 
descent from Abraham (John 8 : 39). He laid the axe unto 
the root of the trees (Matt. 3 : 10), thus beginning a process 
of separation which the winnowing-fan of Christ should 

« Prof. E. B. Andrews, in 40 Bib. Sac. 51. 



32 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

continue (Matt. 8: 12). Christ took up the process of his 
forerunner and carried on the winnowing, thorough^ cleans- 
ing his threshing-floor, until a complete separation was 
effected on or along the spiritual boundary of his kingdom. 
The multitudes that followed him were divided ; those who 
looked for the establishment of a world-wide temporal king- 
dom more and more deserted him ; while those who dimly 
discerned a spiritual realm, after long and patient training 
(John 16 : 31), clung hesitatingly to him. His fan was in 
his hand. The process of separation hastened. He jour- 
neyed, and preached, and warned, and wrought miracles, and 
prayed, until the great majority rejected and crucified their 
Messiah. " He came unto his own, and they that were his- 
own received him not. But as many as received him, to 
them gave he the right to become children of God " (John 
1: 11, 12). That is, all Israel, the nation of priests, the 
hahal^ or congregation, or Church of God, as externally 
organized, were cut off from all the privileges and promises 
of the covenant as children of Abraham, and from the 
law of Moses as the kahal^ or congregation of Israel, by 
the one act of crucifixion, except the little band of Christ's 
recognized disciples. They remained the true hahal of 
Israel. All other Jews therein became apostates. The 
process of winnowing had cleansed the threshing-floor. 

§ 39. Thus through Christ's first disciples the Church of 
God was continued. They then constituted it on earth. 
They were the wheat separated from a nation of chaff, the 
true seed of Abraham, the "little flock," to whom the 
Father gave the kingdom (Luke 12: 32). They became 
the Christian Church, recognized and ordained as such on 
the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-4). They had fulfilled all 
righteousness in keeping the ritual law, and so needed not 
to be baptized and were never baptized with Christian bap- 
tism. They were the Church in transition. All that joined 
them, after their divine recognition as such on Pentecost, 
were baptized into Christ (Acts 2 : 38, 41 ; 8 : 38 ; 11 : 16 ^ 



THE KING D 031 MANIFESTED. 33 

etc.). A striking case was the baptism of John's disciples 
at Ephesus, a.d. bQ (Acts 19: 3-5). As the winnowing, or 
separation, had left all who had not become disciples of 
Jesus outside the Church, no one could be admitted to fel- 
lowship except through the rite of Christian baptism, as 
Christ had enjoined (Matt. 28 : 19). There was no cleav- 
age, no mere succession, but instead continuity, develop- 
ment, evolution, the passing of the family Church into the 
national, and the national into the ecumenical form. The 
three dispensations are not three precious stones placed in 
divine succession, but the same life of God in human his- 
tory, growing out of the limitations of narrower forms into 
the universal and unlimited : one Church in three forms. 

§ 40. As was natural and inevitable, the manifestation of 
the kingdom rejected much which belonged to the ceremo- 
nial dispensation and retained what could be used. The 
national could not be stretched into the ecumenical, and 
every attempt to do it has fettered the feet of the Christian 
Church. Paul regarded the Jews as " kept in ward under 
the law," as under a " tutor," and not as sons in true liberty. 
The Aaronic priesthood, the ceremonial law, the altar, the 
sacrifices, the feasts, the temple, the place and mode of wor- 
ship, the dress of those officiating, were all fulfilled in 
Christ. They have been outgrown and abolished, as is 
elaborately declared in Hebrews (see especially 9: 12, 25, 
26; 10: 12,18; 7: 18,19): ''The bond written in ordi- 
nances," . . . Christ took it " out of the way, nailing it to the 
cross" (Col. 2: 14). Men thereafter could worship God 
acceptably anywhere and in any way, if in spirit and in 
truth (John 4: 21-23). Hence adhesion thereafter to the 
ceremonial law is rightly called bondage (Gal. 5 : 1) and a 
falling away from the scheme of grace, if relied on for 
salvation (Gal. 5:^-4). 

But the kingdom retains in its manifestation the Sabbath; 
the family ; the Sacred Scriptures, adding to them the law 
of the New Covenant, which all communions hold to be 



34 THE CHUECH- KINGDOM. 

inspired ; the cardinal virtues, which here find their fullest 
development ; the vicarious atonement through sacrifice, for 
Christ offered once for all his own life a ransom for the 
world ; and the priesthood in Christ, a new order, " after the 
power of an endless life " (Heb. 7 : 16). In short, the man- 
ifested kingdom retains all the essentials of the preceding 
dispensations and so many of the incidentals as could be 
adapted to a free, spiritual, ecumenical Church, and rejected 
all the rest. 

§ 41. One of these incidentals retained in substance is 
the synagogue form of worship. We have already alluded 
(§ 25) to this outgrowth of the religious life of the Jews, 
but it needs fuller treatment. For " as the Christian Church 
rests historically on the Jewish Church, so Christian worship 
and the congregational organization rest on that of the syn- 
agogue and cannot be well understood without it."^ As the 
kingdom of heaven manifests itself chiefly in and through 
local congregations, and worship therein, we call attention to 
the origin of this kind of worship. 

(1) The synagogue form of worship had its origin in a 
want which the national worship could not itself satisfy 
(§ 25). The Babylonian captivity revealed the inadequacy 
of the temple service, from which relief was found in 
synagogues. These the dispersion made universal and 
popular. Without a temple, sacrifices, feasts, and the 
ordained worship, there sprung up, how we do not know, an 
unauthorized kind of worship in local congregations, which 
was both a necessity and a prophecy, a sign of the decadence 
of the national establishment and the hope of better things, 
if not of a new dispensation. 

(2) Born in the sorrows of captivity, when Israel's harps 
hung upon the willows in Babylon, the synagogue would 
have been rejected after the return as ^he remembrancer of 
exile, had it not met a universal want — a want so common 
that, in Christ's time, " not a town, not a village, if 

7 Hist. Christ. Ch. I, 456, by Dr. Philip Schaff. 



SYNAGOGUE W0B8HIP. 35 

it numbered only ten men . . . but had one or more 
synagogues." The number in the city of Jerusalem was 
about four hundred. It is held that a synagogue invaded 
the holy temple — " an incongruous mixture of man- 
derived worship with the God-ordained typical rites of the 
sanctuary." Yet Christ sanctioned synagogue worship by 
regular attendance upon it (Luke 4 : 16 ; John 18 : 20). 
The synagogue was more than the temple in the nurture of 
religious life and faith. 

(3) For the synagogue worship was local, congregational, 
weekly ; laymen, women, and children could and did meet 
€very Sabbath to hear the law and the prophets and to offer 
praise and prayer. A building suited to the needs of the 
place was built. The worship consisted in reading the law 
and prophets, the nineteen prayers, the chanting, the preach- 
ing or expounding of the Scriptures, and the amen responded 
by the people. "Any Jew of age might get up to read the 
lesson, offer prayer, and address the congregation." ^ Each 
synagogue elected its own officers, the ruler and his two 
associates, the three almoners, or deacons, and the council. 
" Each synagogue formed an independent republic, but kept 
up a regular correspondence with other synagogues. It was 
also a civil and religious court, and had power to excom- 
municate and to scourge offenders."^ All the affairs of a 
synagogue, worship and government, were under the exclu- 
sive control of laymen. No priest had any part in them. 
Each synagogue was independent of the rest, whether taken 
singly or collectively. 

(4) It is clear that synagogue worship could be carried 
anywhere and offered by any Jew of age. It was perfectly 
suited to ecumenical extension. It had already extended 
wherever the Jews had been dispersed, before Christ came. 
It could be carried throughout the world. The apostles and 
disciples at first were all laymen, but as such they could 

8 Hist. Christ. Ctiurch, Dr. Schaff, i, 459. 
» Ibid. 458. 



36 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

preach Christ in any synagogue. They availed themselves 
of this privilege. When, therefore, the kingdom was set up, 
this familiar and capable mode of worship had been prepared 
for it. It was known to all Jews and devout Gentiles. The 
kingdom seized upon this mode of worship for its extension 
(Acts 9 : 20 ; 13 : 5 ; 14 : 1 ; 17 : 1, 2, 10, 17 ; 18 : 4, 19, 
26 ; 19 : 8) ; for Christian worship in local churches had 
both its starting-point and model in the Jewish synagogue. 
More recent investigations tend strongly to show that 
among the Gentiles a similar preparation for the Christian 
ecdesia had been made in the heathen clubs that abounded. 

§ 42. And it is in and through these local churches that 
the kingdom of heaven chiefly manifests itself in the world. 
It is true that it must show itself also in the lives of the 
renewed. The divine life begotten in regeneration bears the 
fruit of the Spirit in holy living (Matt. 5 : 16 ; Gal. 5 : 22, 
23). " By this shall all men know," says the King, " that ye 
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another " (John 13 : 
35). A love that treats all men as brothers will distinguish 
those that possess it, until the whole course of human history 
has been changed. Without it, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13 : 
1-3). But we mistake greatly if we regard individual holy 
lives as the chief manifestation of the kingdom of heaven ; 
for such lives do not appear where local churches do not 
exist. The Christian life is not an isolation, but a fellowship. 
It constitutes believers one flock, one body. The commun- 
ion of saints is essential to its nurture, if not to its begetting. 
Hence it appears almost exclusively in communities. It is 
hardly too much to say that if the fellowship found in, and 
fostered by, local churches were to cease, individual holy 
living would largely cease from among men. 

(1) The Holy Spirit makes fellowship the channel of 
blessing. When, on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were 
baptized of the Spirit for their work, they were not taken 
singly while at private prayer, but when " they were all to- 
gether in one place." " The tongues parting asunder " " sat 



FELLOWSHIP THE CHANNEL OF BLESSING. 6 i 

upon each one of them" (Acts 2 : 1, 3). It has been so ever 
since ; the collected Church, and not the individual member, 
being the channel of the Spirit's blessing. Revivalists seldom 
labor where the Church or churches can not be aroused to con- 
certed praj^er and labor, thus confirming this fundamental 
law of the kingdom, that " through the church the manifold 
wisdom of God," "in Christ Jesus our Lord," is "made 
known" (Eph. 3: 10,11). The same is confirmed by the 
failure of those who discard organization ( § 27 : 1). The 
local church in any place, not the ministry, not any outside 
organization, is the organ of the Spirit, a fact needing em- 
phatic assertion at the present time. 

(2) Hence we can see why the apostles founded churches 
every-where. They preached in synagogues and formed their 
followers into churches. The separation from the synagogues 
was, however, slowly effected. But as necessity arose, 
churches were planted alongside the synagogues, as organic 
centers of life and labors. For "the apostles do not rest 
satisfied with the conversion of individuals as such, nor with 
leaving with each believer a book or a rule of life for his 
own personal guidance. Every-where they seek to organize 
a society: the 'brethren,' the 'disciples,' the 'saints,' 
are formed into a church, that is, an ecclesia, or congre- 
gation; and that society receives a distmct and definite 
constitution." ^^ 

(3) For the same reason the kingdom has ever appeared 
in local churches wherever it has obtained a foothold. It 
matters not what theory of the Church has been held, neigh- 
borhood churches have been formed by this law of fellow- 
ship. Christ honors the smallest church with his presence 
(Matt. 18: 20). This local organization is the universal 
manifestation of the kingdom. Its subjects thus behave in 
all lands and ages , therein revealing a law of the kingdom, 
which surmounts all obstacles. As the law of gravitation 
has its way, so this law of fellowship has its way in the realm 

" Introd. to Acts, by Prof. Plumptre. 



38 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

of Christ. Persecution, even death, has not been able to 
prevent church assemblies. If harried out of one country, 
believers brave the wilderness in obedience to it. Similarity 
of wants, experiences, hopes, trials, labors, tends to foster 
fellowship in local churches ; but the origin and continuance 
of churches lies deeper, in a law of the one indivisible king- 
dom of heaven. 

§ 43. But the lives of believers and the local congregations 
are not the whole manifestation of the kingdom of heaven 
among men. The boundaries of fellowship for each Christian 
are wider than the roll of the church to which he belongs. 
Its membership is not the limit of communion and labors. 
The kingdom includes all true churches, and hence coming 
into the kingdom brings one into union with all such 
churches, while each church from its constitution and nature 
is in fellowship with all the rest. It is not a separate integer, 
but a related factor ; and hence each church seeks to express 
in some suitable way its relation to all other organically 
manifested parts of the one kingdom. The law that binds 
individual saints into local churches binds those churches 
into normal associations for fellowship and cooperative 
labors. This law is the gravitation which makes the king- 
dom one and its manifestations one. Hence the communion 
of saints, though obstructed, can not be wholly prevented 
since it is the visible expression of the fundamental law of 
the invisible kingdom of heaven. That this communion 
might become ecumenical, with neither family, nor national, 
nor race limitations, the kingdom at the start seized upon the 
synagogue or club form of organization and worship, which 
gathers the believers of one place together into a church and 
joins all churches together in fellowship. Thus there are many 
churches, but one comprehensive manifestation. We must 
broaden our conception of local churches into an ecumenical 
comprehension if we would attain an adequate idea of the^ 
kingdom of heaven in manifestation. 

Through changes in the lives of individuals making thenL 



OBIGIN OF CHUBCH POLITIES. 39 

holy, through local churches as the channel of the Spirit's 
working, and through associations of churches, human society- 
will be wholly leavened, and the world will be led to believe 
in an atoning Saviour (John 17 : 21). 

But in this manifestation of the kingdom we must not for 
a moment forget that the local church is the great factor. It 
is the nurturing home into which believers are spiritually 
born. It is the integer of wider fellowship. It is in and 
through local churches that the kingdom becomes the light of 
the world and the salt of the earth. They are the worshiping 
and working forces. In them life is nurtured and from them 
evangelization flows. Through them chiefly the kingdom 
manifests its power of redeeming the world. Whatever holy 
living there may be in individual Christians, and whatever 
the method of exhibiting the union of the local congregations, 
the world sees practically and chiefly the worship and labors 
of local churches. By and in these churches the kingdom 
comes into conflict with the powers of darkness. Little is 
done through other instrumentalities. Hence we repeat that 
the kingdom of heaven chiefly manifests itself in the world 
in and through local churches. 

§ 44. This manifestation of the kingdom brings us to the 
origin of church polities. Here, in the necessity of unity 
between church and church, lies the parting of the ways. 
Here, in the communion of saints beyond the bounds of local 
congregations, emerge the various theories of the Church 
which are embodied in the great ecclesiastical communions. 
Here, one road leads to Rome, another to Constantinople, 
another to Geneva, and another to Plymouth; and all 
Christians must walk in one of these ways. If each local 
church were wholly independent in matters of authority and 
of fellowship, that is, an absolutely independent integer, no 
polity need emerge. If any polity should arise, it would be 
abnormal, unnatural, man-made. But since all churches are 
united in one kingdom of heaven, they stand to one another, 
not as absolutely independent integers, but as factors in a 



40 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

common whole, towns in a united realm. If we add to- 
gether, not only all the individual Christians, but also all the 
local churches, we do not obtain the kingdom of heaven in 
manifestation. The kingdom itself is a unit, and not a col- 
lection of units ; an integer, and not a collection of integers. 
And the normal manifestation of that kingdom must disclose 
its oneness. "In conceiving the Church as in one sense 
single, in another plural, the thought of the New Testament 
writers does not begin with plurality and pass thence to unity 
by abstraction and generalization, but moves from unity 
of essence to plurality of concrete manifestation. Unity is 
first and highest." ^^ 

It is the fact that at bottom all Christian churches are one, 
which compels their combination under some theory or 
doctrine of the Church. Whatever independence one local 
church or communion of churches may have, that independ- 
ence must be subordinate to the essential, underlying one- 
ness of all. This oneness compels the unity of external 
manifestation which all polities seek to express. There is an 
earnest, pervading, prevailing, irrepressible desire of believers, 
begotten of the Spirit, to manifest in organic, visible form 
the unity of the kingdom of heaven, which will sometime 
find adequate, normal, and ecumenical expression. The 
attempts to realize it have given rise to the following theories 
or doctrines of the Christian Church, namely : — 

(1) Fellowship and unity on the principle of infallible 
primacy, which emerges in the Papacy. 

(2) Fellowship and unity on the principle of apostolic suc- 
cession, which emerges in Episcopacy. 

(3) Fellowship and unity on the principle of authoritative 
representation, which emerges in Presbyterianism. 

(4) Fellowship and unity on the principle of church in- 
dependency, which emerges in Congregationalism. 

We see that fellowship is the common factor and unity 
the common end of these four theories ; but the end is sought 

" Prof. E. B. Andrews, 40 Bib. Sac. 55, 56. 



THE FOUB POLITIES. 41 

■to be reached on the common factor by a different principle 
in each. These theories are actual, and respectively dom- 
inate large communions. Singly or combined they constitute 
all the polities that divide Christendom. Each will be con- 
sidered hereafter with less or more fullness. 

§ 45. While we shall endeavor to show which one of the 
four is Scriptural and normal, we wish at the outset to pro- 
test against ascribing to any polity that has dominated large 
bodies of churches a superficial origin. Our discussion will 
prove that church polities penetrate to lines so narrow, 
and principles so subtile, that learned and good men have 
been led to adopt and defend each one of the theories 
-above given. These theories did not take their origin 
in ambition, priestcraft, or corruption ; no, not one of 
them. Their primary causes lie deeper, in things more 
honorable alike to human nature and the grace of God. 
Ambition, priestcraft, corruption, may have been the rich soil 
nurturing wrong conceptions of the nature of the Christian 
Church ; but the seed and root of the gigantic outgrowths 
which have divided Christendom were something better than 
human depravity. Nor is it altogether bigotry that builds so 
many churches of different orders in small towns, but 
loyalty, often at great costs, to ecclesiastical belief. The 
waste in money and labor is deplorable, but the devotion 
that gives both money and labor is admirable. Let us not 
accuse those falsely who long to have their community one 
iiock in faith and worship, but whose adhesion to principle — 
as they view it — divides that community into separate 
churches. We may deplore, as we should, the conflict of 
theories, but we can not but regard loyalty to convictions a 
priceless element of character. We shall not, therefore, try 
any one's patience by cataloguing corruptions. Instead, we 
will endeavor to set forth the normal relation of church to 
church in the indivisible kingdom of heaven. 



LECTURE III. 

THE EOMAN CATHOLIC AND THE EPISCOPAL THEORY OF 
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

" TJiat they may all he one . . . that the world may believe that thou didst 
send me." — Jesus Christ. 

^^ But he not ye called Bahhi : for one is your teacher, and all ye are breth- 
ren. And call no man your father on the earth [pope means father] : for one 
is your Father, lohich is in heaven. Neither he ye called masters : for one is 
your master, even the Christ." — Jesus Christ. 

In fulfillment of the prayer : " Thy kingdom come," and 
in obedience to the command : " Make disciples of all the 
nations," the apostles and primitive Christians entered upon 
their mission. And such was their activity and success that 
they soon compassed the known world. For Paul wrote, in 
A.D. 62, that the gospel had been preached " in all the world," 
"in all creation under heaven " (Col. 1 : 6, 23). Wherever 
they preached, with rare exceptions, churches were gathered 
of Jewish and Gentile believers. In consequence of the 
unity of the kingdom, of which they were visible manifesta- 
tions, these churches stood in the closest possible relation to 
one another. Life was clothing itself with organic form. 
And from the fundamental law of fellowship, the communion 
of saints was emerging in some form of polity. 

§ 46. There soon appeared, therefore, a change in thought 
and language corresponding with the change of the invisible 
kingdom into visible churches. The Christ had spoken of 
his kingdom as near at hand, the apostles saw it in mani- 
festation. It was natural that in thought and language the 
idea of the kingdom should recede into the background 
while the idea of its manifestation in churches should fill the 
foreground. And such was indeed the fact. Christ used 
the phrase kingdom of heaven, or its equivalent, as recorded 
by Matthew, thirty-six times ; but he used the word church 



KINQD03I BECOMING CHUBCHES. 43 

in only two passages (Matt. 16 : 18 ; 18 : 17). On the con- 
trary, his apostles used the phrase " kingdom of heaven," or 
its equivalent, in the Acts and Epistles, thirty-one times, 
and the word "church" one hundred and twelve times. 
The kingdom was becoming visible in organic form, and 
men spoke of the kingdom less and less, but of the churches 
more and more. This change has been recognized by 
modern theologians. "An explanation of it has been 
sought in two different and indeed opposite ways, some re- 
garding it as an indication of advance in the conception of 
Christian truth, and others again seeing in it a proof that the 
apostles did not fully apprehend or retain the great ideas of 
the Master." ^ It seems more rational to regard the change 
in thought and expression as due to the natural and inevita- 
ble development of the invisible kingdom into concrete 
organic manifestations of that kingdom, the churches, in its 
coming among men. 

§ 47. These organic manifestations called churches hold 
some relation to the kingdom out of which they grow, not in 
virtue of their planting by the apostles, nor of their common 
faith and worship, but in virtue of their being churches of 
Christ. This relation dominates their faith and worship 
and makes them one while many. The human mind is so^ 
constituted that it will express the relation existing between 
the kingdom and its organic manifestation, and consequently 
between church and church, in some tangible form or work- 
ing system ; and that form or system constitutes a theory or 
doctrine of the Christian Church, whether true or false. 
Four such theories have divided Christendom and demand 
attention. For it is manifest that there can be but one 
normal or true development of the kingdom into organic 
manifestation. Whatever theories of the universe science in 
its infirmity may from time to time present, no one is so 
foolish as to imagine that God has constructed the universe 
on a plurality of conflicting plans. He has built it on one 

1 The Kingdom of God, by Prof. Candlish, d.d., 180. 



44 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

sublime plan, and all the theories of science are tentative 
efforts to comprehend and state that plan. We hold the 
same to be true of God's sublimer scheme of grace in its 
organic manifestation. Rising from the inferior and pre- 
paratory to its perfected and permanent dispensation, each 
stage had one divine model and not many models. In this 
the Christian is not inferior to the patriarchal and the cere- 
monial dispensations. It has one normal manifestation. If 
it were possible to deduce from the Federal Constitution 
several distinct and incompatible forms of civil government, 
what could be said of the wisdom of its framers or of the 
stability of this Republic ? To suppose that Christ or his 
apostles put into the New Testament, or framed into the 
primitive churches, several conflicting doctrines of the 
Christian Church, is to impeach their wisdom and inspira- 
tion. If they did it, they had not common wisdom. How- 
ever fruitless human efforts have hitherto been in finding 
and stating the divine doctrine of the Christian Church, we 
must believe in such a doctrine, or surrender our belief in 
the inspiration of the founders of that Church. The true 
doctrine must be in the New Testament, if these writings 
were given by inspiration, as the true doctrine of the 
material universe must be in nature; but in either case 
it may be hidden for wise purposes. Nowhere is unity 
expressed by plurality, whatever incidental varieties may 
appear. This is so self-evident that the advocates of every 
theory of the Christian Church instinctively feel it. They 
can not be made to believe that Christ ordained a fourfold 
polity as the normal development of his one kingdom. 
And they take a still more superficial view who affirm that 
Christ ordained no principles of church government for a 
kingdom which is to subdue all nations. The kingdom is 
one fellowship, and fellowship involves polity, and that 
polity must be one like the kingdom. This is not saying 
that other polities must be in all respects wrong, that there 
can be nothing good in them, but that they are in 



ONLY ONE TRUE THEORY, ,45 

some one or more essential respects wrong. Nor is it 
saying that a detailed system has been revealed, but only 
that the essential elements of the normal polity have been 
given. The want of some detailed book of discipline in the 
New Testament is no proof whatever that the principles of 
a consistent, complete, and normal polity are not found 
therein. Because God has not written his plan of the uni- 
verse in distinct characters, science is not justified in denying 
any plan, but is instead stimulated to ascertain the hidden 
plan. The numerous theories which have been held and 
then rejected are the scaffolding needed in the building of 
the true edifice. It is so in church polity. The polity has 
not been revealed in detail ; but it exists in the mind of 
Christ ; it has been revealed in principle ; and the theories 
which have sprung up and become embodied in great 
ecclesiastical systems are efforts to express in organic form 
those principles. That erroneous theories should have 
arisen in ecclesiology, as in science, is not surprising. That 
unity of view and expression will some time be reached in 
both ecclesiology and science is certain. That men have clung 
tenaciously to their theories, believing them to be true, is 
no more surprising in polity than in science. A man can not 
do otherwise without impeaching his own faith. The more 
logical and conscientious a man is, when possessed of a theory 
of any sort, the less can he countenance opposing theories. 
Nor is this bigotry ; it is logic. 

§ 48. We turn then to the four great theories of the 
Christian Church which divide Christendom, to ascertain, if 
possible, what is true in them, and which one comes nearest 
to the divine model. They are properly named the Papal, 
the Episcopal, the Presbyterial, and the Congregational 
theory. We shall reduce each one to its simple constitutive 
principle, and then give the development of that principle 
into a complete and ecumenical system. And we mean by 
constitutive principle of any polity, that principle which 
gives it individuality, distinguishes it from all other polities, 



46 THE CHUBGH' KINGDOM. 

pervades all its institutions, and gives the answer to every 
query regarding the peculiar constitution outward and 
inward of that polity. This is substantially the definitiou 
given by Cardinal Wiseman. It will simplify matters very 
much to find in each theory of the Church the one principle 
that controls and so constitutes it what it is, and gives life 
to it ; for that one principle seeks to give to the visible 
churches the unity of the invisible kingdom of heaven out of 
which they spring. Each principle develops into a system 
elaborate and minute and peculiar. Some of the systems 
have been perversions from others, settling at last each 
around its constitutive principle, while others arose from a 
clear perception of their constitutive principles. In the 
former case, foreign elements may have been borne along 
for centuries, until gradually eliminated. But in each polity 
the drift has been more and more to crystallize about its con- 
stitutive principle, until that principle dominates all parts. 
We shall seek accuracy in brevity of presentation. 

I. — THE PAPAL THEORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

§ 49. This theory has developed a church establishment 
imposing in its nature and extent. Macaulay, writing in 
1840, before the theory had flowered in the dogma of the 
immaculate conception (1854), and fruited in the dogma of 
papal infallibility (1870), said : " There is not, and there 
never was, on this earth, a work of human policy so well de- 
serving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. . . . 
She saw the commencement of all the governments, and of all 
the ecclesiastical establishments, that now exist in the world ; 
and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the 
end of them all. . . . And she may still exist in undimin- 
ished vigor when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in 
the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch 
of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." ^ This 
is not quite as truthful as it is beautiful, though no one can 

2 Review of Ranke's Hist, of the Popes. 



PAFAL THE OB T. 47 

question the accuracy of the impression intended to be 
produced. The brilliant essayist forgot the patriarchal 
despotism of China, that such as the government was in the 
time of Confucius and his predecessors, so it is, essentially, 
at the present day.^ He overlooked also the Eastern, or Or- 
thodox Greek Church, out of the bosom of which the Roman 
Catholic Church was born, " both the source and the back- 
ground of the Western." ^ The Papal Church did not there- 
fore see the commencement of all the governments, and of 
all the ecclesiastical establishments, that now exist in the 
world, and we shall show why it will not see their end. 
Imposing and grand as it is, its completeness in papal 
infallibility bears in it the doom of death. 

§ 50. The origin of the Papal system is not in the constitu- 
tion of the primitive churches. " This volume further dem- 
onstrates," says Bishop A. Cleveland Coxe, "what I have 
so often touched upon — the historic fact that primitive 
Christianity was Greek in form and character, Greek from 
first to last, Greek in all its forms of dogma, worship, and 
polity." And he refers to Dean Stanley as inviting " us to 
reform the entire scheme of our ecclesiastical history by pre- 
senting the Eastern apostolic churches as the main stem of 
Christendom, of which the Church of Rome itself was for 
three hundred years a mere colony, unfelt in theology except 
by contributions to the Greek literature of Christians, and 
wholly unconscious of those pretensions with which . . . 
the fabulous decretals afterwards invested a succession of 
primitive bishops in Rome, wholly innocent of any thing of 
the kind." ^ 

(1) There arose among the primitive churches a confusion 
of thought over the nature of the Christian Church. The 
outward manifestation in local churches with their ministry 
began to be identified with the invisible kingdom, a con- 
fusion which we have seen (§ 5) still exists, dividing Chris- 

3 5 Ency. Brit. 668. * 11 Ency. Brit. 154. 

Introd. Notice to Am. Ed. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. vi, pp. v, vi. 



48 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

tendom into two great sections. This confusion is both the 
source and the support of the Papal Theory of the Church. 
Ignatius (a.d. 30-107) wrote : " If any man foUow him who 
makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the king- 
dom of God."^ Irenaeus (a.d. 120-202) confused the- 
kingdom and the visible Church in the famous passage : " ' For 
in the Church,' it is said, ' God hath set apostles, prophets, 
teachers,' and all the other means through which the Spirit 
works ; of which all those are not partakers who do not joiri 
themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life- 
through their perverse opinions and infamous behavior. 
For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; 
and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church." "^ Here- 
the Church is the visible body with its officers, and it is made 
identical with the invisible Church or kingdom of heaven. 
He makes true of the former what is true only of the latter. 
Both these quotations impl}^ that there is no salvation outside- 
the visible Church. But this identity between the visible 
and the invisible Church more largely dominates the thought 
of Cyprian (a,d. 200-258), who may be called the father of 
the Roman Catholic system. He cries out : " How can he be 
with Christ who is not with the spouse of Christ, and in his- 
Church ? " ^ " Whoever he may be, and whatever he may be, 
he who is not in the Church of Christ is not a Christian." ^' 
" For it has been delivered to us that there is one God, and one 
Christ, and one hope, and one faith, and one Church, and one 
baptism ordained only in the one Church, from which unity 
whosoever will depart must needs be found with heretics. . . ► 
Moreover, Peter himself, showing and vindicating the unity,, 
has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved, 
except by the one only baptism of one Church." ^^ Thus the 
implication of Ignatius and Irenseus became hardened inta 
the dogma of Cyprian : " Out of the Church there is no 
salvation." And this in due time came to mean in the 

6 Phil. m. 7 Ad. Haer. boob lii, ch. xxiv. 

8 Ep. xlviii, 1. 9 Ep. li, 24. lo Ep. Lxxiii, 11. 



PAFAL THE OB Y. 49 

Occident: "Out of tlie Roman Catholic Church there is no 
salvation." 

(2) This confusion of thought was born of the ceremonial 
dispensation, in which the ci^T.1 and the spiritual realms were, 
in the minds of the ordinary Jew, conterminous and identical. 
It was natural, therefore, for the Jewish Christians to over- 
look the lines of distinction between the kingdom and its 
manifestation, which Christ and his apostles had drawn. 
The apostles did not get rid of similar notions under the 
teaching of the Master until the illumination of Pentecost. 
Their successors did not have the same degree of illumina- 
tion, and hence as we recede from the davs of the apostles 
the lines between the Aisible and the inA'isible Church become 
dimmer until they disappear. So, too, the order of Jewisk 
priests, with dress and ceremonies and sacrifices, would in 
time be brought over. 

(3) If this confusion in thought could have been removed, 
and the distinction drawn by the apostles and their Master 
retained, the Papal Theory of the Church would not have 
been born, " Such a distinction might haA'e led," says Nean- 
der, " to an agreement between Augustine and the Donatists. 
Augustine endeavored to establish the distinction, but he 
was afraid to follow out the idea to the full extent, and his 
notions became obscure." ^^ Had this greatest of uninspii^ed 
theologians been bolder as a reformer, he by clearness of 
thought might have prevented the birth of the Papacy. He 
faltered ; left the distinction in obscurity still ; and the 
natural result followed. " The idea of the Church had 
become confounded with its external manifestation, and thus 
the way was prepared for all the abuses of the Romish hier- 
archy and the development of the Papacy." 12 It was thus 
left to the reformers of the sixteenth century to draw the 
Imes between the visible and the iuAusible Church, the organic 
manifestation and the spiritual kingdom, so deep and dis- 
tinct that they can not again become obliterated. We say, 

11 Hagenbach's Hist. Doct. i, 354. 12 Ibid, ii, 71. 



50 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

again, because tliey were before clearly drawn in the teach- 
ings of the New Testament. But while the confusion lasted 
the Papal Theory grew almost to its completeness. 

(4) We greatly err if we fancy that this distinction be- 
tween the visible and the invisible Church is of no practical 
present use. It is of the utmost value in evangelizing the 
world, as in determining the form of the Church. Hagen- 
bach states it exactly when he says : " In the view of the 
Romanist, individuals come to Christ through the Church ; 
in the view of Protestants, they come to the Church through 
Christ." ^^ The question confronts each minister and mis- 
sionary: Shall I labor to bring sinners to Christ through 
the door of the Church, or shall I bring them to the 
Church through Christ the door ? 

By the Roman Theory a horde of savages is brought to 
Christ by the church sacraments ; by the Protestant Theory, 
sinners are brought to the sacraments by conversion to Christ 
in faith and penitence. Make the visible and the invisible 
Church one and identical, and you make therein baptism and 
regeneration identical — baptismal regeneration is the out- 
come. Baptism thus becomes necessary unto salvation. 
But draw the line where the Scriptures do, between the 
kingdom of heaven and its organic manifestation in churches, 
and you ascribe salvation, not unto the Church, but unto 
Christ ; not to the sacraments, but to repentance and faith. 
We see how closely together the widest theories and practices 
lie in their origin. We see also that nothing touches purity 
in faith and practice with a more controlling hand than 
theories of the nature of the Christian Church. 

(5) In seeking the origin of the Papal Theory we must 
add to this confusion of thought and consequent identifica- 
tion of the manifestation of the kingdom with the kingdom 
itself, this further element, the elevation of the chief spokes- 
man of the apostles to the position of primate among them, 
and consequently the making of his so-called successors pri- 
mates in the whole Church. Of this we speak hereafter. 

" Hagenbach's Hist. Doct. li, 290. 



PAPAL THEOBY, 51 

(6) To these two elements must also be added an envi- 
ronment adverse to the primitive polity. The great Roman 
Empire had dazed men -vrith its glory. Church officers were 
drawn by the unnoticed drift of their surroundings into 
hierarchical claims. The conversion of the emperor, and 
the union of Church and State, carried at a bound the perse- 
cuted Church into power. The consequent fearful ingress of 
heathen multitudes, with their heathen customs, into the 
Church, corrupted it, and Rome, the capital of the known 
world, aspired to a greater ecclesiastical empire. These con- 
stituted an environment in which the germs of the Papal 
Theory took root and growth ; but of which we can not speak 
more particularly. 

§ 51. The Papal Theory is, that " the Holy Catholic 
Apostolic Roman Church is the mother and mistress of all 
churches ;"^^ that it is the only true Church of Christ; that 
" the Church has the power of defining dogmatically that the 
religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion ; " ^^ 
that " the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church 
of God was immediately and directly promised and given to 
blessed Peter, the apostle of Christ the Lord ; " that the 
same primacy "must, by the same institution, necessarily 
remain unceasingly in the church," and " in his successors, 
the Bishops of the Holy See of Rome. . . . Whence whoso- 
ever succeeds to Peter in this See does by the institution of 
Christ himself obtain the primacy of Peter over the whole 
Church ; " and that " the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex 
cathedra^ that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and 
doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme apostolic 
authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals, to 
be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance 
promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infalli- 
bility with which the divine Redeemer willed that his Church 
should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or 
morals ; and that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman 

" Tridentine Faith. i= Papal Syllabus of Errors (1S64), 21. 



52 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the con- 
sent of the Church." " But if any one — which may God 
avert — presume to contradict this our definition : let him be 
anathema." ^^ More briefly : the Roman Catholic Church is 
the community of the faithful united to their lawful pastors, 
in communion with the See of Rome, the infallible Pope, the 
successor of St. Peter, and vicar of Christ on earth. 

§ 52. The constitutive principle of this theory is the in- 
fallible primacy of the Pope. Before the theory had devel- 
oped into papal infallibility. Cardinal Wiseman thus defined 
the constitutive principle : " The doctrine and belief that 
God has promised, and consequently bestows upon it [the 
Church], a constant and perpetual protection, to the extent 
of guaranteeing it from destruction, from error, and fatal cor- 
ruption. This principle once admitted, every thing else fol- 
lows." ^^ This principle did not, however, distinguish, even 
then, between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox 
Greek Church ; for the latter holds that " the bishops united 
in a General Council represent the Church, and infallibly 
decide, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, all matters of 
faith and ecclesiastical life." ^^ Infallibility, or rather the 
claim of it, does not, therefore, alone distinguish the Roman 
Church from all others. If, therefore, infallibility be 
admitted, every thing else does not follow. 

(1) Primacy would seem to distinguish the Roman Church, 
but it has not dominated the whole development of that 
Church. If we join the two terms — infallibility and primacy 
— we cover perhaps the whole normal development until the 
final consummation of the theory. This gives infallible pri- 
macy as the constitutive principle of the Papal Theory of the 
Church. It is nothing against the accuracy of our position 
that this principle did not emerge into full recognition until 
A.D. 1870 ; for we do not know fully a plant or a tree until it 
has blossomed and borne ripened fruit. The Papal Theory 
did not mature until the Vatican Council. 

16 Vatican Decrees, on Church, chap, i, ii, iv. 

" Quoted in Romanism as It Is, 107. '8 n Ency. Brit. 159. 



PAPAL THEOBY. 53 

(2) Before that council settled it, the infallibility claimed 
by the Romish Church was an unlocalized quantity. It was 
held by one party that it was focused in general councils of 
the Church. Another party found it in the decrees of such 
councils when ratified and confirmed by the Pope. A more 
recent and third party, led by the Jesuits, placed it in the 
popes, speaking ex cathedra. The Vatican Council was 
called to remove this confusion, which it did. For by the 
decree of this general council, confirmed by the Pope, the 
perpetual seat of infallibility was infallibly located in the See 
of Rome. Hence the popes, from Peter to the present in- 
cumbent, have been infallible in their official though contra- 
dictory utterances. No one in the three parties could reject 
this Vatican dogma of infallibility, however much he opposed 
the passage of it ; for the infallible organ of the Church, in 
the belief of each party, infallibly decreed the said dogma. 
Whatever the struggles by which the constitutive principle 
has reached final recognition, the main currents of the system 
from the earliest claims of infallibility and primacy have been 
towards this principle. 

(3) While this principle is active and authoritative in the 
popes, it is passive and submissive in all other prelates and 
in the laity. For it is the function of the popes to define, 
teach, and rule ; but of the prelates and laity to learn, believe, 
and obey. Thus, what Christ is to the kingdom, his vicar, 
the Pope, is to the Church, "setting himself forth as God " 
(2Thess. 2: 4). 

§ 53. This constitutive principle develops into an inflexi- 
ble and intolerant system. It requires the submission of 
every Christian every-where to the Pope, as unto Christ ; 
indeed, no one can be a true Christian who does not submit 
to the Pope. All private judgment in religion is denied, 
since the infallible Pope must define what is to be believed 
and what not ; and the infallible can not err. If any of its 
dogmas appear strange and unscriptural, the system finds in 
tradition or in decrees of councils and popes their infallible 



54 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

justification. Schism becomes, too, the greatest sin, since it. 
is apostasy from the kingdom of heaven. There is hence a 
necessity for conformity or unity in religious faith and eccle-^ 
siastical rituaL It becomes the duty of the popes to re- 
press by anathema, excommunication, and sword all attempts 
to broach new opinions, since the popes have decreed the use 
of such weapons against error, heresy, and schism. The 
reigning Pope has supreme power over churches and minis- 
ters, to rule them in faith and morals ; to enact canons, rites, 
dogmas ; and to do whatever else may be thought conducive 
to the welfare of the Church in ritual, doctrine, morals, poli- 
tics, and science. He has even indicted the science of the 
nineteenth century, and declared the separation of Church, 
and State a heresy, and liberty in religious belief " the insan- 
ity." ^^ The system is intolerant in the extreme. 

(1) In doctrine it has infallibly declared that baptism is^ 
necessary unto salvation ; that the mass or eucharist is a real 
but bloodless sacrifice of Christ, as truly a propitiatory offer- 
ing, as was his death on the cross ; that there is a purgatory 
for the purifying after death of imperfect saints ; that indul- 
gences are beneficial ; and that the great catalogue of errors, 
with which reason and Scripture and history have successfully 
indicted this system, are to be believed. 

(2) The government of the Roman Catholic Church is- 
monarchical, the Pope being its supreme and infallible ruler. 
The people have no vote or voice in its management, in any 
particular. Below the Pope as his executive council are the 
cardinals appointed by himself. Every decision of this coun- 
cil is subject to revision by the Pope. The full number of' 
cardinals is seventy -two. There are two sorts of bishops,, 
bishops in ordinary and vicars apostolic. Their jurisdiction 
on every point is clear and definite. They control the infe- 
rior orders of clergy. In most Catholic countries the bishops- 
have a certain degree of civil jurisdiction. Below the bishops- 
in government are chiefly the parochial priests. Besides, 

i9Encycl. 13 Aug. 1832; 8 Dec. 1864, Appleton's Annual Cycl. 1864, 702. 



PAPAL THEOBY. 55 

these there is a considerable body of ecclesiastics, who do not 
enter directly into the governing part of the Church, although 
they help to discharge some of its most important functions. 
The most solemn tribunal is a general council, that is, an 
assembly of all the bishops of the Church, who may attend 
either in person or by deputy, under the presidency of the 
Pope or his legates, whose appointment necessarily emanates 
from the Pope. All church property is held in trust and 
controlled by the bishops. 

§ 54. The proof of this stupendous system to those who 
accept it is easy: The infallible Church has ordained it. 
But to those who deny its infallibility, the proof is indeed 
slender. Here is the Scriptural argument as given in the 
order of citation in the decree of papal infallibility : 
" That they may all be one ; even as thou, Father, art in me 
and I in thee, that they also may be in us " (John IT : 
21). "Thou Shalt be called Cephas" (John 1:42). 
" Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah : for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and 
upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of 
Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and whatsoever 
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven " (Matt. 
16 : 16-19). This would indeed be a strong passage had 
not Christ given the same power to all the apostles (John 
20: 23) and to each local church (Matt. 18: 18). What 
was so expressly distributed by the Lord of all can not be 
made applicable only to one. But there is added : " Feed 
my lambs;" "Feed my sheep" (John 21: 15-17). "But 
I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not : and da 
thou, when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy 
brethren" (Luke 22 : 32). 

This is the whole Scriptural proof cited in the decree of 
papal infallibility. In other connections several other pas- 



56 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

sages are quoted or referred to, but they apply to the whole 
apostolate, and not to Peter alone. On this slender Scrip- 
tural basis the huge fabric rests. But what is lacking in 
Scripture the system finds in the coordinate standards of 
faith and practice, namely, tradition, and decrees of councils 
and popes (§ 87). 

Such is the Papal Theory of the Christian Church in its 
present completed development. It is grand, imposing, con- 
sistent, reducible to one constitutive principle, and claiming 
with logical daring to be the one only true Church of Christ 
because identical with the kingdom of heaven. We can 
hardly wonder that some Protestants are so awed by its 
grandeur that they turn back to Rome. 

§ 55. Yet on this Papal Theory, as it has risen to com- 
pleteness, it is obvious to note several things : — 

(1) The Papal Theory is a living power. It is met every- 
where, full of vigor and hope, with unbroken front, and until 
recently confident of a speedy and universal acceptance or 
conquest. It had great consistency and strength as a system 
even while maturing; and now, while a fatal cleavage is 
going on, separating the governing clergy from the Roman 
Catholic laity, its power is tremendous. It was the laity of 
Roman Catholic Italy that stripped the Pope of his temporal 
power the very year in which the clergy decreed his infalli- 
bility. And all other Catholic countries acquiesced in spite 
of papal anathemas. 

(2) The Papal Theory is unassailable by argument. The 
infallible is above argumentation. No proof can reach it ; 
no logic can harm it. For more than three and one-half 
centuries the theory has flourished and gained some lost 
ground, under the convicting proofs which reason, history, 
and the Bible hurl against it. 

(3) The Papal Theory is irreformable. The infallible 
can not, of course, err. Hence the Papacy can never be 
reformed. This hope must be abandoned. 

(4) The alternative with the Papal Theory is either vie- 



FAFAL THEOBY. 57 

tory or death. There can be no compromise, no middle 
ground. The Syllabus of Errors, issued by Pope Pius IX 
in 1864, is the formal indictment of modern progress in 
science and liberty. It denounces, as a principal error, that 
''every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he 
shall believe true, guided by the light of reason " (Error 15) ; 
that " Protestantism is nothing more than another form of 
the same true Christian religion, in which it is possible to be 
equally pleasing to God as in the Catholic Church " (18) ; 
that " the Church has not the power of availing herself of 
force, or any direct or indirect temporal power " (24) ; that 
"national churches can be established, after being with- 
drawn and plainly separated from the authority of the 
Roman Pontiff" (37) ; that "the Church ought to be sepa- 
rated from the State, and the State from the Church " (J)^^- 
Among other errors infallibly stigmatized is this : " The 
abolition of the temporal power, of which the Apostolic See 
is possessed, would contribute in the greatest degree to the 
liberty and prosperity of the Church. . . . N. B. Besides 
these errors, explicitly noted, many others are impliedly 
rebuked by the proposed and asserted doctrine, which all 
Catholics are bound most firmly to hold, touching the tem- 
poral sovereignty of the Roman Pontiff" (76). The next 
day after the Vatican Council, in 1870, had declared the 
Pope infallible, which made this syllabus and all it contains 
infallible, France declared war against Germany, in conse- 
quence of which the Roman Pontiff was soon stripped of 
every vestige of temporal soA^ereignt}^ and power. The King 
of Italy, on entering the States of the Church, proclaimed: 
"In the first place, all political and lay authority of the 
Pope and Holy See in Italj^ is abolished and will remain 
so." 20 By the decision of the supreme court of Italy the 
king has jurisdiction within the walls of the Vatican, the 
palace of the Pope. The infallible primate, the vicar of 
Christ, is thus made subject to the laws of Italy .^^ This is 

20 Appleton's Cycl. for 1870, 414. 212 Andover Review, 171. 



58 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the reason the Pope keeps up the fiction of being a prisoner 
in the Vatican, being deprived as he is of his temporal 
power. For unless he can recover that temporal power, so 
necessary to " the liberty and prosperity of the Church," that 
" all Catholics are bound most firmly to hold it," the Pope 
will have been proved by the providence of God to be a false 
teacher the very year the Vatican Council declared him to be 
an infallible teacher. It was the stress of this contradiction, 
unless speedily remedied, of which there appeared no hope, 
that wrung from the very Pope who called the council to 
decree his infallibility the despairing cry : " All is lost ! " 
To recover his temporal power, and so to escape the demon- 
stration of his fallibility, which this contradiction involves, 
the Pope, as the Hon. William E. Gladstone shows,^ has 
been, and still is, engaged in stirring up a general European 
war, that out of the strife he may emerge clothed with tem- 
poral sovereignty again. Necessity compels him thus to 
feign imprisonment, and to foment strife, until he wins or 
the Papacy dies. We may hope with confidence that the 
cleavage going on between the Papacy, which is clerical 
government wholly, and the Roman Catholic population will 
end in the overthrow of the Papal Theory, in a conflict 
indeed of its own making. With violence shall it be cast 
into the sea. 

(5) When the Papal Theory perishes, and not till then, 
the Roman Catholic churches may be reformed. Parts may 
possibly again be broken off, separated entirely, and so re- 
formed. But its adherents can not be reformed until there 
ceases to be a Papal Theory on the earth. For it is the 
Papal Theory that divides the Greek and Protestant com- 
munions from the Roman Catholic. Were there no Pope, 
the local churches in the Roman communion could break into 
provincial or national bodies and be reformed, as preparatory 
to a more comprehensive union. And, if it be true, as held 
by some, " that the order of bishops was craftily abolished by 

22 Vaticanism, 85. 



EPISCOPAL THEOBY. 59 

the Council of Trent (a.d. 1563), and the theory of certain 
schoolmen was made into dogma, to this effect, namely, the 
Pope is universal bishop, and possesses the whole episco- 
pate ; all other bishops are but papal vicars, that is, presbyters 
only," — then the end of the Papacy is the end of the episco- 
pacy in that great communion. Be this as it may, we have 
no doubt that the rise of this theory into completeness in 
papal infallibility is the beginning of its end. 

(6) If, however, the Papal Theory should prevail — which 
it will not — it could easily become ecumenical. It once 
embraced, with the exception of the Greek Church, all 
Christendom. It has now all the ecclesiastical machinery 
and institutions needed to express in itself, in visible form> 
the unity of the invisible kingdom of heaven. 

II. — THE EPISCOPAL THEOHY OF THE CHEISTIAK CHUECH, 

§ bQ. The Episcopal Theory is older but less imposing 
than the Papal. The church of Jerusalem and not the 
church of Rome was the mother church. The gospel was 
preached, beginning at Jerusalem. The Eastern or Greek 
Church is the source and background, as we have shown 
(§§ 49, 50), of the Western or Roman Church. There can 
be no doubt of this, nor of the fact that Episcopacy arose 
before the Papacy in the Christian Church. That the former 
is less imposing than the latter does not result so much from 
the nature of the system as from its incomplete development. 
Episcopacy has for some reason been largely confined to 
national boundaries. It has never called, in modern times, 
a central council having authority over, and giving laws 
and unity to, all the communities and nations embracing the 
theory. Lacking this central, authoritative, and unifying 
body, the Episcopal Theory does not impress the imagination 
as profoundly as does the Papal. 

§ 57. The origin of the Episcopal Theory may be quite 
accurately traced. In many, if not all, of the primitive 



60 THE GHUBCH- KmaDOM, 

churches or particular congregations there was a presbytery ; 
that is, each local church had a plurality of elders or pres- 
byters. Luke speaks of such elders or bishops in local 
churches (Acts 14 : 23 ; 20 : 17, 28 ; 21 : 18), and Paul calls 
them a presbytery (1 Tim. 4 : 14) ; of which we shall speak 
more particularly in another Lecture. In this local church 
presbytery, or board of elders, there would naturally arise by 
choice, or otherwise, a presiding officer, who would receive in 
time some distinguishing title, though only the first among 
equals. The name bishop, though originally and every- 
where in the New Testament synonymous with presbyter or 
-elder, — the three words being used interchangeably, — at 
length became the title for distinguishing the presiding pres- 
byter. Thus, in the genuine Ignatian Epistles, we read of 
" being subject to the bishop and the presbytery ; " ^3 of a 
■"justly renowned presbytery," being "fitted as exactly to 
the bishop as the strings are to the harp ; " ^ of " obeying 
the bishop and the presbytery with an undivided mind, 
breaking one and the same bread ; " '^ of being " subject to 
the bishop as to the grace of God, and to the presbytery as 
to the law of Jesus Christ ; " "^ and of similar expressions in 
ten other passages, showing how common the distinction had 
become, if indeed these expressions are not in part or wholly 
interpolations. The bishop and presbytery were in the local 
or particular church, the only diocese then known. In later 
writings presbyters are also spoken of as presiding over the 
local churches,^" while the bishop and his presbytery are 
at a still later writing again conjoined.^^ The bishops of the 
early churches were pastors of local churches. 

Under the persecutions which every-where met the 
preachers of Christ, and the want of church edifices in 
ivhich to meet, the presbytery of each church, under its 
chosen leader, called a bishop in honor, not in order, would 
teach and feed the flock as best they could, in the homes or 

23 Ep. Eph. ii. 24 Ibid, iv, 25 Ibid. XX. 26 Ep. Mag. ii. 

■^7 Pastor of Hermas, 2, iv. ^s Apostol. Const, book ii, xxviii; book viii, iv. 



EPISCOPAL THE OB Y. 61 

wherever they could most safely or conveniently assemble 
the whole or a part of the church. The presbyters would 
also labor in adjacent territory, which labor would require 
some overseeing, and this would naturally fall to the lot of 
the bishop of the local presbytery, the primus inter pares, 
Vice-Principal Edwin Hatch, in his famous Bampton Lec- 
tures, says that " the weight of evidence has rendered practi- 
cally indisputable " the identity of the primitive bishops and 
presbyters; that, in the course of the second century, the 
bishop came to stand above the rest of the presbyters of the 
local church ; that " the episcopate grew by the force of 
circumstances, in the order of Providence, to satisfy a felt 
want ; " that " the supremacy of the episcopate was the result 
of the struggle with Gnosticism ; " that " dioceses in the 
later sense of the term did not yet exist" in the fourth 
century; and tliat the first diocese was that of which 
Alexandria was the centre .^^ " By degrees a systematic 
organization sprang up, by which neighboring churches 
were grouped together for the purposes of consultation and 
self-government. The chief city of each district had the 
civil rank of the 'metropolis,' or mother city. There the 
local synods naturally met, and the bishop — styled ' metro- 
politan,' from his position took the lead in the deliberations^ 
as '•primus inter pares^ and acted as the representative 
of his brother bishops in their intercourse with other 
churches. Thus, though all bishops were nominally equal, 
a superior dignity and authority came by general consent to 
be vested in the metropolitans, which, when the churches 
became established, received the stamp of ecclesiastical 
authority. A little higher dignity was assigned to the 
bishops of the chief seats of government, such as Rome, 
Antioch, Alexandria, and subsequentlj^ Constantinople ; and 
among these, the bishop of Rome naturally had the prece- 
dence." ^ Thus slowl}^, under a favoring environment, the 

29 Org. Early Christ. Chhs. (1880), 38; 82, 83; 98, 99; 215; 195, 194. 

30 8 Ency. Brit. 488. 



62 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

bishop from being a mere presbyter became a presiding 
presbyter over equals, then a metropolitan among neighbor- 
ing churches, and finally a bishop with authority, when 
Christianity became the state religion in the Roman 
Empire. 

§ 58. The Episcopal Theory of the Christian Church when 
fully developed may be thus stated : " In order to be a valid 
branch of the Church of Christ, the Church must have (1) 
the holy Scriptures ; (2) the ancient catholic creeds ; (8) 
the ministry in an unbroken line of succession from the 
apostles ; (4) this ministry must be in the exercise of lawful 
jurisdiction ; (5) the Christians of any nation with these 
conditions constitute a national branch of the Church of 
Christ, totally independent of the jurisdiction and authority 
of any foreign church or bishop, subject only under Christ 
to the authority of the universal Church in general council 
assembled ; and (6) as such they have jurisdiction over all 
their members and authority in matters of faith to interpret 
and decide, and in matters of discipline and worship to legis- 
late and ordain such rites and ceremonies as may seem most 
conducive to edification and godliness, provided they be not 
contrary to the Holy Scriptures." ^^ This theory is some- 
times stated more briefly and broadly, but with less 
accuracy. 

§ 59. The constitutive principle of this theory may be 
found in apostolic succession ; that is, that " episcopal ordi- 
nation in an unbroken line of succession from the apostles 
is necessary to valid jurisdiction and the due administration 
of the sacraments anywhere." ^^ If this line be broken any- 
where, the life ceases in the branches thus severed, and can 
not again be restored, except by ordination at the hands of 
some bishop, in lawful jurisdiction, who has himself been 
ordained in unbroken line of succession from the apostles. 
Hence the children are taught: "How is the life of the 
church preserved? By the Holy Ghost, through the Apos- 

3^ Appleton's Am. Cycl. vii, 249. 3» Ibid. 250 



EPISCOPAL THE OB Y, 63 

tolic Succession of her ministry." "What is necessary to 
make any particular church a true branch of the Catholic 
Church ? It must hold to the Creed of the Church, to the 
Apostolic Ministry, and to the Apostolic Succession." ^ The 
touch of a bishop's fingers in succession is the essential prin- 
ciple, since neither faith nor worship nor works avail any 
thing without his official touch. On this " fiction," as Arch- 
Lishop Whateley calls it, the renewing grace of God in Christ 
Jesus is made to depend. 

§ 60. This constitutive principle needs ample and con- 
vincing proof, but instead it rests on assumption largely. 
" Bishop Stillingfleet declares that ' this succession is as 
muddy as the Tiber itself.' Bishop Hoadley asserts : ' It 
hath not pleased God, in his providence, to keep up any 
jproof of the least probability, or moral possibility, of a regu- 
lar uninterrupted succession ; but there is a general appear- 
ance, and, humanly speaking, a certainty to the contrary^ and 
that the succession hath often been interrupted.' Archbishop 
Whately affirms that ' there is not a minister in Christendom 
who is able to trace up, with an approach to certainty^ his 
spiritual pedigree.' " ^ It is admitted that the New Testa- 
ment does not even set forth the fact of an episcopate, much 
less the constitutive principle of the Episcopal Theory, which 
lias come into such power in Christendom ; and the supposed 
traces of it have been largely removed by the revision of the 
New Testament. " The care of all the churches " (2 Cor. 
11 : 28) is simply " anxiety for all the churches." James is 
sometimes called "the bishop of Jerusalem," but there is no 
evidence that he was any thing more than a presiding pres- 
byter, if not one of the apostles. Jerome is quoted to show 
that episcopacy was called into being to repress heresies and 
supplement the authority of the rapidly diminishing body of 
the apostles, and that the superiority of bishops over pres- 
byters was rather due to the custom of the churches than to 
the ordinance of Christ.^ The constitutive principle has no 

33 Trinity Church Catechism, Qs. 77, 79. 

3* Orthodox Congregationalism, by Dr. Donis Clarke, 23. ss 8 Ency. Brit. 484, seq. 



64 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

proof, but stands in direct antagonism to the tests given in 
the New Testament of what constitutes true believers, minis- 
ters, and churches. Christ refused to let his apostles forbid 
a man casting out devils in his name, because he did not fol- 
low them (Mark 9 : 38, 39). God made the gift of the Holy 
Spirit the test, and taught Peter so in a vision (Acts 10 : 9~ 
16). The apostles and church at Jerusalem, in two test 
cases, followed the same rule (Acts 11: 1-18; 15: 1-29).. 
Hence, not apostolic succession, but the gift and graces of 
the Holy Spirit, distinguish the gospel ministry and the 
churches of Christ. But this will appear more fully 
hereafter. 

§ 61. This constitutive principle develops into a compact 
system. (1) There must be different orders of the clergy^ 
some as bishops possessed of functions which others as pres- 
byters do not possess. In fact there has arisen this series — 
deacons, priests, bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs; but 
not all these are essential to the system. (2) Lawful juris- 
diction must be observed to prevent confusion. The higher 
orders must have their respective realms ; a bishop his dio- 
cese ; the priest his congregation. The bishop has in his 
diocese authority over churches and priests and deacons, in 
matters of admission, discipline, and property. (3) There 
are national convocations or conventions, composed of two 
houses, — into the lower of which laymen may be admitted, 
— which have authority to enact whatever may be needful in 
matters of faith, discipline, ritual, and worship, that does not 
contravene the sacred Scriptures. (4) General councils 
were held in the early centuries, having authority over the 
whole Church in virtue of the union of Church and State- 
These have been for many centuries suspended through the 
divisions in Christendom. They must be restored again in 
order to complete the theory, and to express the unity of 
all the national churches. (5) The bishops have the sole 
power and right to confirm and ordain to holy orders. No 
one not episcopally ordained is qualified for the ministry, or 



EPISCOPAL THE OB T. 65 

can be recognized as a minister of the gospel, whatever suc- 
cess may attend his labors. And no congregation of true 
believers, though worshiping statedly in one place and call- 
ing itself a church, can be a true church or be recognized 
as such, unless ministered unto in orderly connection by one 
who has been ordained by a bishop in the line of succession 
from the apostles. And, what is more, no denomination of 
true Christians, though presided over by bishops, so called, as 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, can be treated as a branch 
of the true Church, until the said bishops and the lower 
clergy shall have been ordained by a bishop in succession 
from the apostles.^ Thus is carried out, in logical consist- 
ency, the dictum of Cyprian : " It is no avail what a man 
teaches ; it is enough that he teaches out of the Church ; 
where the bishop is, there is the Church." ^^ (6) The sys- 
tem descends to minute details with its authority. Thus, on 
issuing a new hymn-book, in 1871, the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America, "resolved that 
this Hymnal be authorized for use, and that no other Hymns- 
shall be allowed in the public worship of the Church, except 
such as are now ordinarily bound up with the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer." The words both of prayer and of praise must 
be " authorized," or God can not be worshiped acceptably in 
public service ! Thus the principle develops into a system 
consistent and exclusive, and capable of universal extension, 
provided the authority of control can be carried over from 
national conventions to general councils representing all 
the nations of Christendom. 

§ 62. The Episcopal Theory, however, has not always 
developed into precisely the same system or form. (1) The 
Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East, commonly called 
the Greek Church, is its oldest form. Under this general 
name or title, several national churches with their peculiari- 
ties are included. It has its three orders of ministers, — 

36 A Churchman's Reasons, by Dr. Eichardson, 150, seq. 

37 5 Ency. Brit. 759, 



66 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

deacons, priests, and bishops, — under four patriarchs of 
equal rank, but who are themselves of the order of bishops. 
The Eastern Church runs so nearly in the line of the develop- 
ment of the Western until we reach the question of the 
primacy, that we might almost define it as a truncated Papal 
Theory ; for it holds to seven sacraments and to infallibility. 
(2) The Anglican Church had its birth in a political revo- 
lution and a spiritual reformation. It broke off from Rome ; 
but, as might be supposed from the compromises in which it 
originated, its connection with the civil power as a state 
establishment, and the corruptions from which it was only a 
partial reformation, it contains discordant elements, in its 
liturgy, its polity, and its doctrine. The Prayer Book opens 
towards Rome and towards Geneva, containing both papal 
and evangelical elements. "An impartial estimate of the 
Anglican formularies would probably be found to support 
that view of coordinate authority of Scripture and the 
Church which is taken by a large body of her divines, . . . 
though many of her adherents would undoubtedly incline, 
more or less completely, to that more Protestant view, which 
subordinates the Church to Scripture."^ In polity the 
Anglican Church is also incongruous, since it places a lay- 
man, the king or the queen of England, at its head. Hence a 
writer truly says : " She is a Janus, and her temple is always 
open." Still the controlling factor in this incongruous estab- 
lishment is that of apostolic succession. The grounds of 
fellowship, however, as set forth in a manifesto issued for 
visitors of the World's Exhibition in London, in 1862, are 
wider, namely : " The remission and regeneration through 
Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost in Confirmation, the 
objective presence of the body and the blood in the Eucha- 
rist, as well as its sacrificial character. Apostolic Succession, 
Absolution, and the authority of the Ancient Creeds."^ 
The Anglican Church stands, therefore, more closely identi- 
fied with the Greek Church in polity, and with the Greek 

38 5 Ency. Brit. 759. »» Ecclesia; or, Ch. Problems Considered, 115. 



EPISCOPAL THEOBT, 67 

and Roman Churches in doctrine, than with the Protestant 
Churches. 

(3) The Protestant Episcopal Church, having no connec- 
tion with the State, and freed from an adverse environment, 
is perhaps the normal development of the constitutive prin- 
ciple. There remains a Low Church element in it, which is 
foreign to the system, and which in time must be eliminated 
from it, but which can find no distinctive life and place out- 
side. The Reformed Episcopal Church, having no distinct- 
ive constitutive principle, must fail, ceasing to be, or return- 
ing to the fold whence it went out. 

(4) The Moravian Brethren have an episcopal govern- 
ment in part. " The ministers are bishops, presbyters, and 
deacons. The bishops alone can ordain, but they are not 
diocesan. They are appointed by the general synod, or by 
the elders' conference of the Unity, and have official seats 
both in the synods of the provinces where they preside, and 
in the general synod." " The general synod which governs 
the whole Church meets every ten years." " The worship 
is liturgical." ^ 

These are differing forms of the same theory of the 
'Church of Christ, and constitute the chief manifestations 
of Episcopacy. 

§ 63. There are several things to be noted in connection 
with the Episcopal Theory of the Christian Church. 

(1) It is a systematic form of church government. It has 
a central formative principle and a logical development, not- 
withstanding the fact that its historical forms have been 
modified by extrinsic circumstances. Strip off the abnormal 
elements, and the polity will be invigorated. " The decided 
growth of the Episcopal Church (in the United States) 
dates from the period when it clearly enunciated its dis- 
tinctive theory." ^i The theory referred to is Apostolic 
Succession. 

« 16 Ency. Brit. 812. 

" Prof, Diman, iu Centennial No. North Am. Review, 86. 



68 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(2) It is a living, aggressive theory. It shows a most 
vigorous vitality. Denying to non-Episcopal ministers and 
churches, of all names, all right and claim to be true 
Christian ministers and churches, Episcopacy consistently 
invades their mission fields and parishes. Logically it can 
not do otherwise. Hence the more consistent the system is, 
the more intolerant and exclusive it must become. It domi- 
nates large and active communities, as we have seen, hus- 
banding and using its vast resources and energies in its own 
enlargement. It, like the Papacy, contends for the mastery 
of Christendom, and thus of all nations. 

(3) Only one branch, the Eastern Church, claims infalli- 
bility for its general councils. As a system, infallibility can 
not be predicated of it ; reform of it is therefore possible. It 
can surrender any doctrine or principle, even its constitutive 
principle, whenever its adherents see sufficient cause for so 
doing, and become another polity. 

(4) It is at present an incomplete system. It does not 
now as formerly express the unity of the kingdom of 
heaven. The last of the so-called ecumenical councils was 
held in a.d. 680. Since then this theory has found no way 
of exhibiting the unity of its adherents. The Pan- Anglican 
Conferences, and the Episcopal Congresses, held in later 
years, have been limited in scope, without authority to gov- 
ern even those taking part in them, and are consequently 
abnormal. Indeed, it would seem impossible, in this age of 
liberty, to convoke a general council which should have 
authority over national churches. Passing beyond national 
boundaries, this theory of the Church meets a barrier of 
liberty which since the Reformation it has not had strength 
to pass. To convoke a general council to deliberate and 
advise, is to expose the weakness of the theory and intro- 
duce a foreign and divisive principle. Hence the system 
stands incomplete, and must remain incomplete, unless it can 
restore authoritative general councils. Moreover, being in- 
complete, it is inadequate to answer the sacerdotal prayer 



EPISCOPAL THEOPY. 69 

of Christ the Head, that all his disciples may be one, that 
the world may believe in Him (John 17: 20-23). Unless 
it can again find a way to set up general councils with 
authority, the theory fails to reach the goal of ecumenical 
unity, and, sooner or later, must yield to the theory which 
shall best fulfill this prayer of Christ on the principles of 
liberty. 



LECTURE IV. 

THE PHESBYTEEIAL AND THE CONGREGATIONAL THEORY 
OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

"Xe^ the elders that rule well he counted icorthij of double honor, especially 
those who labor in the word and in teaching.'''' — Saint Paul. 

" Tell it iLuto the church : and if he refuse to hear the chiLrch also, let him^ 
he unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.'" —Jesus Christ. 

Having examined the Papal and the Episcopal Theory 
of the Christian Church, we come next to the Presbjterial 
Theory. 

III. — THE PRESBYTERIAL THEORY OF THE CHRISTIAN 

CHURCH. 

§ 64. This theory in its elements is older than the Epis- 
copal, but later in its development. As we have seen (§ 57), 
the primitive churches had a plurality of elders in each, 
called by Paul a " presbytery." These presbyters, like the. 
elders or rulers in the synagogue, had the oversight and rule 
in the church in which they were bishops. Hence the writer 
of the Hebrews could say : " Remember them that had the 
rule over you " (Heb. 13: 7,24). And Clement Romanus, 
writing before the death of the Apostle John, says: "Being 
obedient to those who had the rule over you, and giving all 
fitting honor to the presbyters among you." " Ye, therefore, 
who laid the foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves 
to the presbyters, and receive correction so as to repent." ^ 
Whatever came before Presbyterian rule over churches, 
united in organic bodies, it is certain that the rule of pres- 
byters, as a church board, in local churches, came before the- 

1 Ep. Cor. i, Ivii. 



PBESBYTEBIAL THEORY. 71 

Episcopate or the Papacy. But such, local Presbyterian rule 
did not develop into what is now known as Presbyterian 
government. Presbyterianism as a polity does not date earlier 
than John Calvin. But there had been similar theories pro- 
posed before Cah^in, though " limited, fragmentary, and abor- 
tive.'' The aim of Calvin was to formulate a theory or form of 
government, which should prevent the disintegration caused 
by the Reformation, and at the same time match the power 
of Rome. He would have separated it also largely from the 
control of the State. Each church, at the first, had as many 
presbyters as it chose to elect. 

We learn the respect shown the presbyters of the primi- 
tive churches by what is said to the churches about obeying 
them. Thus Polycarp tells the members to be " subject to 
the presbyters and deacons, as unto God and Christ ; " ^ and 
Ignatius speaks of being " subject to the presbytery, as to 
the apostle of Jesus Christ.'" ^ But whatever the honor paid 
the local church presbytery, there was no association of such 
presbyteries in the early days with authority over particular 
churches. 

§ Qd. Not until the Great Reformation did the theory 
emerge, and then only through a wrong interpretation of a 
single passage of Scripture. It was held that two kinds of 
elders, ministerial and ruling lay elders, are mentioned by 
Paul in the words : " Let the elders that rule well be counted 
worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the 
word and in teaching " (Tim. 5 : 17). It is now conceded 
by good Presbyterians that only one kind of elders is here 
referred to. 

%QQ. The Presbyterian Theory is government of churches 
by sessions, presbyteries, synods, and assemblies, or by 
similar judicatories. It is the union of all churches in one 
body, under the rule of chosen representatives of the 
churches ; on the principle that the greater shall rule the 
less, in enlarging judicatories, until all become united in one 

2Ep. Phil. V. 3Ep.Tral. ii. 



72 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

supreme court, to which appeals can be taken from the 
smallest tribunal. It thus seeks visible unity under orderly 
government, for all churches. 

§ 67. The constitutive principle vi^hich controls the whole 
development is authoritative representation. This pervades 
and guides every thing. By this we mean that the chosen 
representatives of a particular church have in virtue of 
their election the power to rule or govern that church ; and 
that the chosen representatives of several or many churches 
have in virtue of their election the power of government 
over those churches ; and so on until an ecumenical unity 
is reached. 

The principle of authoritative representation is thus the 
formative principle in the Presbyterian Theory. It matters 
not, so far as the theory goes, whether the representatives 
chosen to govern be ministers or laymen, or partly ministers 
and partly laymen. The principle is separate from the char- 
acter of the representatives, and from the historical develop- 
ment of the principle into any system. 

§ 68. Yet in the development of the principle, it is best 
to take the purest historical form as the example, which is 
the Presbyterian Church in the United States. It is free 
from all modifications caused by the union of Church and 
State, which can not be said probably of any European 
example of the theory. The constitutive principle develops 
in the Presbyterian Church in the United States into the 
following simple and efficient order : — 

(1) The believers in any locality are united in a particu- 
lar church, the primary seat of power, and called the church 
of that place. 

(2) Each one of the churches so gathered chooses from 
among its members any needed number of ruling elders, 
who, together with the pastor or pastors of that church 
constitute the session, with power to admit, discipline, 
dismiss, or excommunicate members of said church. It 
elects also from itself delegates or representatives, called 



PBESBTTEBIAL THE OB Y. 73 

commissioners, to the higher judicatories of the presbytery 
and the synod within whose jurisdiction the church falls. 

(3) "A presbytery consists of all the ministers, in 
number not less than five, and one ruling elder from each 
congregation, within a certain district." 

" The presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals 
from church sessions, and references brought before them 
in an orderly manner; to examine and license candidates for 
the holy ministrj^; to ordain, install, remove, and judge 
ministers ; to examine and approve or censure the records of- 
church sessions ; to resolve questions of doctrine or discipline 
seriously and reasonably propounded ; to condemn errone- 
ous opinions which injure the peace or purity of the church ; 
to visit particular churches for the purpose of inquiring 
into their state, and redressing the evils that may have 
arisen in them ; to unite or divide congregations at the re- 
quest of the people, or to form or receive new congregations; 
and in general to order whatever pertains to the spiritual 
welfare of the churches under their care." * 

The presbyteries are thus clothed with power to control 
the churches in them in matters of doctrine and discipline, 
and also to ordain, remove, and judge ministers. This in- 
cludes the power to vacate a pulpit, and to dissolve the 
pastoral relation, at their own discretion.^ 

(4) " A synod is a convention of the bishops and elders 
within a larger district, including at least three presbyteries." 
The synods have the power to do for the presbyteries, over 
which each has jurisdiction, what the presbyteries may do 
for church sessions, in matters of references, appeals, 
records, wrongs, evils, order ; in forming, uniting, or divid- 
ing presbyteries ; and in general oversight. They have also 
the right ''to propose to the General Assembly, for their 
adoption, such measures as may be of common advantage to 
the whole Church." ^ 

4 Form of Government, x, sec. i, viii. 

5 Moore's Digest (1873), 144-180; Minutes Gen. Assembly, 1874,83, 85. 

6 Form of Government, xi, sec. i, iv. 



74 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(5) " The General Assembly is the highest judicatory of 
the Presbyterian Church. It shall represent, in one body, 
all the particular churches of this denomination. It consists 
of an equal delegation of bishops and elders from each 
presbytery," in a specified proportion. 

It receives and issues appeals and references duly brought 
before it ; reviews records of synods ; gives constitutional 
advice and instruction ; constitutes a bond of union ; decides 
all controversies respecting doctrine and discipline ; bears 
testimony against errors and immorality in any church, 
presbytery, or synod ; erects new synods ; superintends the 
concerns of the whole church ; corresponds with foreign 
bodies; suppresses schismatical contentions; and reforms 
manners in all churches under its care.'' 

(6) There was organized, in 1875, a Presbyterian 
Alliance. Its first general council met in 1877, and there- 
after meets " once in three years." " Any church organized 
on Presbyterian principles which holds the supreme author- 
ity of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in 
matters of faith and morals, and whose creed is in harmony 
with the consensus of the Reformed Confessions, shall be 
eligible for admission into the alliance." 

(a) "Its powers. The council shall have power to decide 
upon the application of churches desiring to join the 
alliance; it shall have power to entertain and consider 
topics which may be brought before it by any church repre- 
sented in the council, or by any member of the council, on 
their being transmitted in the manner hereinafter provided; 
but it shall not interfere with the existing creed or consti- 
tution of any church in the alliance, or with its internal 
order or external relations." ^ 

(6) It will be noticed that the constitutive principle of 
Presbyterianism is expressly abandoned in " The Alliance of 
the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the 

7 Form of Government, xii, sec. i, ii, iv, v. 

8 Constitution of Presby. Alliance, art. ii, iii, 3. 



PBE8BYTEBIAL THEOBT, 75 

Presbyterian system." Authoritative representation is 
dropped on passing national boundaries, and a foreign prin- 
ciple introduced, which substitutes deliberation and the 
expression of opinion for the decrees of a judicatory with 
authority. In attaining ecumenical unity Presbyterianism 
by constitutional provision surrenders, for the time being at 
least, the very principle which makes it Presbyterian. 

§ 69. This theory claims to find the proof of its constitu- 
tive principle in the New Testament. In a paper read before 
the second council of the Presbyterian Alliance, held in 
1880, it was said that " there is not a scintilla of evidence for 
any other form of government in the New Testament."^ 
Yet the author was chary of Scriptural proof, adducing only 
the conceded identity of presbyters and bishops, and, further,, 
the ordination and discipline of presbyters. The whole 
system has been claimed to be Scriptural, the jure divino 
constitution of the Christian Church. This claim has, how- 
ever, been so shattered that Prof. E. D. Morris, d.d., of 
the Lane Theological Seminary, is constrained to say : " In 
explaining and justifying this polity on Scriptural grounds,, 
nothing more than such general warrant will be affirmed." 
He then surrenders the jure divino claim for Presbyterian- 
ism ; and justifies Presbyterianism (1) by reference to the; 
synagogue as the model of the Church ; (2) by the claim 
that the apostles ordained elders, who taught, governed, and 
had general oversight in the churches ; (3) by *' the con- 
ception of government, as a distinct characteristic of the 
Church ; " (4) by " the fellowship of the churches, and the 
unity of the Church, as well in government as in more 
general forms of administrative association." " Such in out- 
line are the Scriptural foundations on which the Presbyterian 
polity claims to rest." ^^ 

We shall have occasion to examine the texts on which 
this claim rests, and so we pass them now, only saying here 

9 Report and Proceedings, 152. 

10 Ecclesiology (1885), 139-143. 



76 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

that the identity of presbyters and bishops is not a doctrine 
peculiar to Presbyterianism ; that the whole synagogue 
service was conducted by laymen ; that each synagogue was 
independent of the control of other synagogues, though in 
fellowship with them; and that the "presbytery" of the 
New Testament was confined to a local, or particular, church, 
like a modern Presbyterian session, and nothing more. 

§ 70. The constitutive principle of Presbyterianism has 
had several forms of development, more or less differing in 
general character and in details. 

(1) There is a large number of churches called Presbyte- 
rian. There are fifty such on the roll of the second council 
of the Presbyterian Alliance. Ireland enrolled two Presby- 
terian churches ; Scotland, five ; the United States, eight ; 
Austria, three } France, two ; Germany, two ; Italy, two ; 
Switzerland, four ; thus revealing the inability of authorita- 
tive representation to unify churches within national limits, 
even when those boundaries are very narrow. 

(2) The Methodist-Episcopal Church is not strictly Epis- 
copal, but is essentially Presbyterian. Its bishops are pres- 
byters raised to a defined superintendency, but not consti- 
tuting a third order in the ministry. Before this Church 
can be recognized as Episcopal, its bishops and presbyters 
must be ordained, in the line of apostolic succession, by the 
bishop, rightly ordained, of some other Church.^^ The gov- 
ernment of this Church is chiefly by presbyters, on the prin- 
ciple of authoritative representation. On this the Wesleyan 
Methodists and the Episcopal-Methodists essentially agree. 

But Methodism as a polity is not a simple, but a com- 
pound, and hence it is unstable. The following changes 
may be noted in the Methodist-Episcopal Church : (1) At 
first bishops alone ordained, now the conferences have the 
power to participate ; (2) the bishops can not now, as for- 
merly, decide appeals, (3) nor control the press, which is 
now in the hands of the conference ; (4) ministers can not 

" Churchman's Reasons, 150-167. 



PBESBYTEBIAL THEOBY. 77 

now, as formerly, set members back on trial ; (5) nor expel 
them without trial ; (6) nor appoint all the stewards.^^ To 
these changes may be added a most fundamental one (7), 
the introduction, after long delay and secessions, of lay rep- 
resentation. This radical change from clerical rule to the 
admission of a lay element in the government of the Church 
was effected in 1872. Before that date " not a layman ever 
touched his finger to the making of the laws of discipline '* 
by which that great communion had been governed. These 
changes are steps toward greater libert}^ and the fuller recog- 
nition of the principle which is dominant in their polity. 
Yet the conflicting elements still remaining will cause 
trouble and possibly division again. 

§ 71. We remark, on the Presbyterian Theory of the 
Christian Church : — 

(1) That it is a simple, consistent, but incomplete system. 
At present the theory stops at national boundaries. It has 
become another theory and polity in the Presbyterian Alli- 
ance. To reach ecumenical unity on its own peculiar prin- 
ciple, the alliance must be clothed with power to rule the 
churches that compose it. Whether the Presbyterian Alli- 
ance will be able in time to gain and apply the constitutive 
principle of Presbyterianism to itself or not, the future must 
determine ; but as the matter now stands, the head of gold 
is in antagonism with the body of silver and brass and iron 
and clay. It has borrowed from another polity the principle 
of fellowship without authority, on which to show its ability 
to attain ecumenical comprehension in fulfilling the prayer 
of Christ for unity. 

(2) This theory is not dependent upon there being in 
each church a board of ruling lay elders, as the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America has de- 
clared. ^^ If the lay elders should be ordained presbyters, or 
if a board of laymen should take the place of ruling elders, 

12 Eocl. PoUty, by Rev. A. N. Fillmore, 193, 194. 
Js Moore's Digest (1873), 115. 



78 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM, 

the representation would be clothed with equal authority to 
govern. Presbyterianism does not, therefore, fall with the 
surrender of Calvin's wrong interpretation of 1 Tim. 5 : 17. 

(3) This theory of the Church does not claim infallibility. 
It has surrendered, or, more accurately, is surrendering, its 
jure divino claim. It is surrendering its theory of ruling 
elders. It has waived aside its constitutive principle in the 
formation of the Presbyterian Alliance. It may surrender 
also other positions, as greater light comes to it. Its highest 
judicatory in America in 1832 inhibited women from speak- 
ing in promiscuous assemblies ; ^* but the same General Assem- 
bly in 1874 declined to express an opinion on the question, 
but committed " the whole subject to the discretion of the 
pastors and elders of the churches." ^^ The General Assem- 
bly thus vacated, in this instance, its right and power " of 
deciding in all controversies respecting doctrine and disci- 
pline," ^^ and remanded such a question to church sessions, 
which by tlie Form of Government have no such power.^" 
This transference recognizes the principles of another polity 
and has great peril in it to the Presbyterian Theory. 

(4) The theory, not being infallible, is reformable. We 
have noted some changes. Others may arise. Once, cases 
of discipline were appealed from the church session to the 
presbytery, thence to the synod, and finally to the General 
Assembly, thus involving the whole Church perhaps in a 
petty quarrel. The annual sessions of the assembly were 
burdened with such appeals. In order to carry on the other 
business more satisfactorily, these appeals are now carried to 
a judicial commission, whose decisions are final except in 
matters of law and all matters of constitution and doctrine. 
This is an important change inasmuch as the voice of the 
whole Church is not uttered by the commission, as it is by 
the General Assembly. This change was made in 1884. It 
raises the question why a shorter reference may not be had 

" Moore's Digest, 304. ^^ Form of Government, xii, v. 

15 Minutes, 66. " Ibid, ix, vi. 



CONGBEGATIONAL THEOBY. 79 

and one equally trustworthy. All these modifications are 
toward greater liberty. 

IV. — THE CONGREGATIONAL THEORY OF THE CHRISTIAN 

CHURCH. 

§ 72. The last of the four theories of the Christian 
Church is the oldest in principles and the latest in develop- 
ment. It is conceded by historians that the primitive churches, 
like the synagogues or clubs from which they came, were 
absolutely independent one of another (§ 109) and that 
they had at first no organic system of fellowship. When 
such fellowship arose, it was without the exercise of author- 
ity. Not even a vote of the body could bind dissentients 
until the Church was united with the empire under Constan- 
tine, about a.d. 313. The principles of this polity go back 
to Christ, but its development in harmony with those prin- 
ciples dates since the Reformation. Hatch, in his Bampton 
Lectures, 1880, traces all the elements found in the primitive 
churches to sources external ; to institutions civil, eleemosy- 
nary, or religious. ^^ This shows the preparation providen- 
tially made for Christianity as an organism. We shall 
discuss this polity in detail in subsequent Lectures. 

§ 73. The Congregational Theory of the Christian Church 
is that the kingdom of heaven, being itself one, has but one 
normal manifestation, or natural development, which appears 
first in individual churches, equal in origin, rights, func- 
tions, and duties, which are consequently independent one 
of another in matters of control; then in associations of 
churches without authority by which the fraternity and 
unity of all Christians are expressed and the churches 
cooperate in Christian labors, all being subject to Christ 
alone and to his revealed will. It shuns independency on 
the one hand, with which it is sometimes confounded, and 
on the other hand the exercise of authority by associated 
churches. It also avoids all ministerial or prelatical rule. 

18 Org. Early Christ. Churches, 20S, passim. 



80 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 74. The constitutive principle of the Congregational 
Theory of the Christian Church is not the participation of 
all the members of a local church in the government of that 
church. "The exercise of all government by the church 
collectively, and not by the office-bearers alone," is held by 
some to be its determining characteristic.^^ But a church 
governed by adult members, or by adult male members, or 
by a board of control elected for the purpose and reporting 
to the church, is Congregational if independent of outside 
control and united by fellowship to other churches. 

(1) Its constitutive principle is the independence under 
Christ of each fully constituted Church of Christ, or the 
autonomy under Christ of every local congregation of be- 
lievers duly organized. This church independence is the 
principle which makes Congregationalism what it is. It 
governs all its institutions and determines all questions that 
arise touching order. And we mean by independence here 
the right and duty under Christ of each fully constituted 
local church to manage its own affairs, elect and ordain all its 
officers, administer its discipline, and determine its mode of 
fellowship, without external accountability and control, but 
in harmony with the fellowship of unity in the kingdom of 
heaven. Each church is thus complete in itself, possessed 
of the whole functions of the Christian Church, so that if 
all other churches should cease to be, it could become the 
mother church of another Christendom. The independency 
of the local church controls the entire development of the 
system, and distinguishes Congregationalism from all other 
systems. 

(2) It is sometimes claimed that fellowship is a distinctive 
principle of Congregationalism ; but this we believe to be a 
palpable mistake. The fundamental idea of the Church of 
Christ is " the communion of saints ; " and every theory of 
that Church uses fellowship as its common element, but each 
after its own peculiar formative principle. As against strict 

^'■> Church of Christ, Prof. Bannerman's, ii, 314, 315. 



CONGBEaATIONAL THE OB Y. 81 

independency — were such a thing possible — fellowship is 
a peculiar principle, occupying one of the foci of an ellipse, 
but against all actual polities, fellowship is not peculiar to 
the Congregational polity, since they have church fel- 
lowship in presbyteries, conferences, conventions, or councils. 
Fellowship is common therefore to all polities, and should 
never be spoken of as a peculiar principle of any one of 
them. 

§ 75. In the development arising from the constitutive 
principle of the Congregational Theory, there is : — 

(1) The local congregation of believers, gathering the 
true Christians of a place into church relations for worship 
and work, each such church having power of self-govern- 
ment under Christ, to manage all its internal affairs. It is 
complete, autonomous, independent of external control. 

(2) These independent churches, sustaining the same re- 
lation to the indivisible kingdom of heaven, stand in the 
closest relation to one another in fellowship, a fraternity or 
brotherhood, with obligations and duties that bind them into 
associations of communion, assistance, cooperation. No 
church can live unto itself alone. The oneness of the king- 
dom constrains all useful modes of fellowship. 

(3) This fellowship may find expression in occasional 
councils of churches, to inquire and advise in matters of 
common concernment, or of church discipline and peace, or 
respecting any questions where light and advice may be 
needed. 

(4) But as fellowship is a constant force wider than 
advice, and should therefore have stated and systematic 
expression, the churches should meet statedly for consulta- 
tion and cooperation, in bodies that should have and exer- 
cise no authority of coercion, but only the right of self- 
protection. This systematic fellowship of churches has. 
found regular expression in the following bodies : — 

(<x) District associations, or conferences. These are 
composed of ministers and delegates of the churches situ- 



82 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

ated within a small territory. They usually meet twice a 
year, and possess no ecclesiastical authority over the 
churches and ministers composing them, except what is 
essential to self -protection, a right and power which every 
organization possesses. 

(5) State associations, or conferences. In these the 
churches of a State or Territory are united under a consti- 
tution, defining membership, and excluding the exercise of 
ecclesiastical control or authority over the ministers and 
churches belonging to them. Yet here too the body has the 
inalienable and self-evident right and duty of enforcing the 
terms of its constitution, and the covenant of association, 
whether written or unwritten. 

(c) National associations, called the National Council in 
the United States, but Unions in England and her Colonies. 
These include the churches of the nation or province, in 
some proportionate representation specified in their constitu- 
tions. The independence of the local churches is secured 
by such provisions as these : " This National Council shall 
never exercise legislative or judicial authority, nor consent 
to act as a council of reference." " The Union recognizes 
the right of every church to administer its affairs, free from 
external control, and shall not, in any case, assume legislative 
authority, or become a court of appeal." 

(jp) This theory, to be complete, must hold general coun- 
cils of all national associations, in other words, an ecumeni- 
cal association. The reasons for this are the same as under 
the other three theories, the communion of saints and the 
prayer of Christ for universal unity (John 17 : 20-23). 
These we have already discussed in another place. ^ When 
organized, as it some time will be, the Congregational The- 
ory of the Christian Church will have reached ecumenical 
comprehension. This development will be normal from be- 
ginning to end, with no introduction of foreign elements, 
with no damage to the liberty of local churches. Its consti- 

20 16 Cong. Quarterly (1874), 291, seq. 



CONGBEGATIONAL THEOBY. 83 

tutive principle dominates fellowship in every stage of its 
widening development. 

§ 76. The constitutive principle of this theory controls 
the following communions : The Independent, or Congrega- 
tional, churches of Great Britain and her Provinces ; the 
Congregational churches of the United States ; the Baptist 
churches of all names and lands ; the Christian and some 
other minor bodies. 

The Lutheran communions generally hold it, but modified 
by modes of ministerial discipline which are somewhat Pres- 
byterian. " The [Lutheran] churches undoubtedly retain 
the authority to call, to elect, and ordain ministers." " Eccle- 
siastical power really vests in the church itself, or in the 
members constituting the church. Each individual congre- 
gation, embracing pastor and people, has full authority 
under Christ to act for itself." ^^ The European Lutherans, 
being connected with the State, are less Congregational than 
the American Lutherans. 

§ 77. As the other Lectures will be given to the proof, 
development, and relations of the Congregational Theory of 
the Christian Church, it is enough to say here that the proof 
is rational. Scriptural, and ecclesiastical. Its impregnable 
citadel is in the New Testament and the conceded constitu- 
tion of the apostolic churches (§ 109). Its relations to re- 
ligious and civil liberty prove its fitness to be the coming 
polity (§ 82). 

§ 78. This Congregational Theory demands a few special 
observations : — 

(1) It develops into a simple, consistent, comprehensive 
system, able to express the unity of believers the world 
around. It must have been by neglecting its modes of fel- 
lowship, and fixing the eye on the impossible claims of strict 
independency, that Professor Bannerman, of New College, 
Edinburgh, could call it a " no church system," in this pas- 
sage : " It is not in the church system — or, rather, no 

21 25 Bib. Sacra, 489, 490. 



84 THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

church system — of Congregational Independency, that we 
see an approach to the model exhibited for our imitation in 
the Apostolic Church." 22 It will appear, we think, in due 
time that Congregational Independency is a simple, consist- 
ent, comprehensive scheme, suited to all the functions and 
emergencies of the churches of Christ, and possessing as 
good a claim to inherit the earth as can be produced for any 
other theory. 

(2) Still it puts forth no claim of infallibility in its devel- 
opment. Whatever has been incorporated in it that is 
abnormal, or whatever is normal that has been neglected, 
in its bitter struggle for existence, can be removed or 
replaced, as light shall reveal more clearly the vast 
comprehension of its principles. 

(3) This is a living and revolutionary theory. It bears 
in its bosom popular governments, democracies in the 
nations, because first in the churches. It makes all men 
brothers, under one Father, in essential equality. It makes 
the people of the Lord free — a kingdom and priests unto 
God. It withholds from elders the power of "lording it 
over the charge allotted to them" (1 Peter 5:3). Because 
of its leveling power, this theory has incurred the hatred of 
aristocracies and hierarchies as no other polity has ever done 
or can ever do. Yet it still lives, to contend for the mastery : 
for the life of God is in it. 

V. — COMPARISON OF THESE FOUR THEORIES OF THE 
CHRISTIAi^ CHURCH. 

We have drawn out with some degree of particularity the 
four theories of church government which are competing 
for the mastery of Christendom, and so of the world. We 
may say of them : — 

§ 79. They are the only simple theories of the Christian 
Church. They can each be reduced to one constitutive prin- 
ciple, with a normal manifestation covering the main features 

22 Church of Christ, il, 330. 



THE FOUB THEOBIES COJIPABED. 85 

of their historical deyelopment. The abnormal features 
mentioned are due to extraneous conditions, and constitute 
no impeachment of the claim that each theory is a simple 
and not a compound theory. The formative principle 
which gives life and shape to each system, and answers all 
questions toucliing it, has been definitely stated ; and mth 
them all we compass the whole possible circuit of church 
polity. Hence they are the only simple theories of the 
Church. When we place the government of the visible 
Church in the hands of an infallible primate, or in the 
hands of a few bishops, the successors of the apostles, or in 
the hands of authoritative representatives of the churches, 
or in the hands of independent churches, we cover the whole 
ground of possible simple systems. Thus the Papacy, Epis- 
copacy, Presbyterianism, and Congregationalism, are the 
only stable systems, because simple. They may be com- 
pounded to some degree in unstable systems, tending ever 
to become simple and so engendering strifes and secessions ; 
but such systems must severally become, sometime, one of 
the above four simple systems, when its dominant principle 
shall have thrown off the foreign elements. We have noted 
the changes in Episcopal Methodism, but " Methodism," says 
one of its advocates, " will be found to be a regular and 
systematic combination of the three principles of church 
government, namely: Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Con- 
gregational."^ AVhatever Methodism has borrowed from 
Episcopacy and Congregationalism, it has not borrowed the 
constitutive principle of either polity; and cleavage and 
change will go on in it, until it becomes a simple, dominated 
by one formative principle. 

§ 80. These theories are mutually exclusive. One does 
not lead to another, or grow out of another, though the con- 
ditions for the development of one may have also conduced 
to the development of another, as the environment of the 
Roman Empire helped Episcopacy in the East and Papacy in 

23 Eccl. Polity, by Eev. A. X. Fillmore, 122. 



86 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

tlie West. The rule of the presbyteries in local churches 
opeued the door, through the presiding presbyter, historically 
but not logically, for Episcopal succession and rule; and 
Episcopacy opened the door in the same way for the Primacy : 
but logically the constitutive principles of all these theories 
are separate and exclusive. As one did not emerge from an- 
other, so one can not be harmonized with another. They are 
mutually exclusive. If any two of them be bound together 
by green withes, as is sometimes done in so-called union 
churches, they will wrestle and contend and divide until one 
or the other is expelled or the church is killed. As in large 
communions so in the individual churches, a mixed govern- 
ment struggles to become homogeneous. Hence the cele^ 
brated dictum of Dr. Nathanael Emmons : " Consociationism 
leads to Presbyterianism ; Presbyterianism leads to Episco- 
pac}^ ; Episcopacy leads to Roman Catholicism ; and Roman 
Catholicism is an ultimate fact," ^ is only partly true. Con- 
sociationism is indeed a compound, with a dual interpretatiou 
of it,^ but whose essential element was declared in 1799, by 
the Hartford North Association of Congregational ministers 
to be Presbyterian.26 Each other polity mentioned is an 
ultimate fact, Presbyterianism as really as Roman Catholicism. 
The most that can be said of this dictum is that its first and 
last clauses are correct. 

While the Papacy holds the "figment" of apostolic suc- 
cession, its formative principle of an infallible primate would 
hold its theory of the Church in unabated vigor, were the- 
whole episcopate besides abolished, as Bishop Coxe claims 
that it has already been abolished by the Council of Trent. 
While the Episcopacy allows, in some degree, authoritative 
representation by presbyters and even laymen, yet neither its 
unity nor its life inhere therein, and it would exist in 
unabated vigor were that representation abolished, which is 
only a concession to popular demands. It is not strictly a 

2* Memoirs, by Rev. Edwards A. Park, D.D., 163. 25 Contrib. Eccl. mst. Ct., 40, seq^ 
2« Hist. Presb. Cli.,by Dr. E. II. Gillett, i, 438. 



THE FOUB THEOBIES COJIPARED. 8T 

part of the Episcopal system. The three other theories, 
give no countenance to the Congregational Theory of the 
Christian Church, nor can they: for the independence 
of the local church is subversive of all aristocratic or 
hierarchical pretensions and systems. There is nothing in 
common as to principles between this popular theory and 
the others. 

It follows that no one of these theories can be reformed 
into another of them, without there being first a destruction 
of its formative principle. By no development or modifica- 
tion can one be otherwise transformed into another. If it 
lose its place among existing polities at any time, it must be 
by the annihilation of its constitutive principle, and thus by 
regeneration. They stand opposed, each against all the rest, 
not in incidentals, not in degrees of development, but in 
their constitutive principles. He dreams who thinks of 
uniting them in some perpetual Christian union. If the 
Papacy were destroyed, its e^Discopate would make it Epis- 
copal, unless its episcopate was absorbed in the Papacy, as 
has been claimed ; in which case the abolition of the Papacy 
would make the Roman Catholic Church Presbyterian. If 
the Episcopacy be destroyed, Presbyterianism is left with its 
authoritative representation. If Presbyterianism be given 
up, the individual churches are then left in their independence 
to be united on the principle of free fellowship. Or this 
process may be reversed. But only in one way or in the 
other can ecumenical unity be reached. 

§ 81. Yet each theory is capable of exhibiting the unitj 
of Christ's invisible kingdom. This has been shown. But, 
as we have seen, the Episcopal and the Presbyterial Theory,, 
in seeking to become ecumenical in their comprehension, 
will be, or has been, obliged, owing to the modern environ- 
ment of liberty, to introduce a foreign principle into their 
highest assemblies, which is subversive of their constitutive 
principles. In their ecumenical tribunals the national 
churches must at present meet to consult and express an 



88 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

opinion, not to govern. One act of authority would 
probably shatter them. If liberty has come to stay with 
Church and State, removing all oppression, then these two 
systems will never be able to overleap the barrier of liberty, 
so as to express consistently the unity of the Christian 
Church. And their failure to do so must doom them. 

The Papal Theory consistently expresses the ecumenical 
unity of its adherents, wherein lies its great strength. But 
it does it by completely suppressing liberty, which it calls 
" the insanity." Its infallible words are : " From this totally 
false notion of social government, they fear not to uphold 
that erroneous opinion most pernicious to the Catholic 
Church, and to the salvation of souls, which was called by 
our predecessor Gregory XVI (lately quoted) ' the insanity ' 
(Ency. 13, August, 1832), (deliramentum), namely, that 
'liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every 
man ; and that this right ought, in every well-governed state, 
to be proclaimed and asserted by the law,' " etc.^^ This is 
the quintessence of tyranny. 

The Congregational Theory, in the fullest exercise of 
liberty, can easily express in associations of fellowship and 
consultation, without authority, the ecumenical unity of 
all particular, local churches throughout the world. The 
Holy Spirit sent by the great Head of the Church to take 
his place is steadily drawing the communion of saints into 
wider circles of fellowship, and will not cease to do so until 
the prayer of Christ for unity is visibly answered. It is of 
the utmost importance, therefore, to the common people 
which of these great church polities shall prevail to the 
exclusion of all the rest. For — 

§ 82. The relation of church polity to civil government 
is most intimate. The profoundest foresight was shown in 
the maxim of King James: "No bishop, no king." The 
grandeur of the Puritan movement, which included both the 

27 Ency. Letter, Pius IX, 1864, Dec. 8. Appleton's Ann. Cycl. 1864, 702. 



THE FOUB THEOEIES COMPABED. 89 

Presbyterians^ and tlie Congregationalists, is seen, not in 
robes and miters and triple crowns, not in hierarchies and 
exaltation of the clergy. The highest grandeur of any gov- 
ernment lies in the good it does the people. Measured by 
this standard we must accord the greatest glory to the Puri- 
tans. The Papacy denies to the people all that is compre- 
hended under the term liberty or freedom, stigmatizing it as 
insanity. With it liberty is a popular craze. The relation 
of Episcopacy to liberty in the state is exactly expressed by 
the maxim above given: ''Xo bishop, no king." But the- 
relation of the Puritans to civil liberty may be learned from 
the historians, as also their relations to religious purity and 
liberty. " That the English people became Protestants is 
due to the Puritans." ^ " As the priest of the Established 
Church was, from interest, from principle, and from passion, 
zealous for the royal ^prerogatives, the Puritan was from in- 
terest, from principle, and from passion, hostile to them." ^ 
Hume says : " It was only during the next generation that 
the noble principles of liberty took root, and spreading them- 
selves under the shelter of Puritanical absurdities, became 
fashionable among the people." ^^ Tiiberty, indeed, as well as 
righteousness, was one of the " Puritanical absurdities." 
Froude says : " Whatever exists at this moment in England 
and Scotland of conscientious fear of doing evil is the rem- 
nant of the convictions which were branded by the Calvin- 
ists into the people's hearts."' ^ The English Puritans were 
Calvinists. The Puritans gave rigliteousness and liberty to 
England, and through her to the world. The greatest glory 
of the nineteenth century, in political affairs, the abolition 
of slavery, and the enlargement of popular liberty, is the 
fruit of the Puritan movement. "One hundred and eighty 

28 As the Puritan movement ^^as a reformation of the Reformation in England, the 
Presbyterians here referred to are those of England, and not those on the continent or 
in Scotland. 

29 Bancroft's Hist. U. S., Rd. Ed. (1876), i, 224. 

30 Macaulay's ffist.Eng., i, 47, Ed. Phillips, Sampson & Co. (1856). 
SI Hist. Eng., Y, 499. 

82 Calvinism : an address delivered at St. Andrews, 44. 



90 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

million Europeans " have been raised during the present cen- 
tury, " from a degraded and ever dissatisfied vassalage to the 
rank of free and self-governing men." ^ This is the rising 
monument to the Puritans. 

But the greater share of this glory belongs to the Congre- 
gational Puritans who went beyond the Presbyterian Puri- 
tans as respects liberty, in their theory of government. 
Archbishop Laud, in his sermon February 6, 1625-6, at 
Westminster, before Charles I, said; "And there is not a 
man that is for parity — all fellows [that is, equals] in the 
Church — but he is not for monarchy in the State." ^ Prof. 
James S. Candlish, of the Free Church College, Glasgow, 
points out the difference between the Presbyterian and the 
Congregational Puritans. " The Presbyterians were anxious 
to reform the Church of England more thoroughly, but they 
desired still to retain its national character. They would 
have a Church in alliance with the State, and embracing as 
far as possible all the people, not only preaching the gospel 
and dispensing the sacraments, but exercising discipline, and 
in all these functions aided and supported by the cIatI 
power." The Congregationalists on the contrary " sought 
an entire and unlimited toleration." " Cromwell contended 
that godly men should not be excluded from the public ser- 
vice because they would not take the Covenant." This posi- 
tion landed the Congregationalists in ".a political theocracy, 
tlie Church being merged in the State, and the kingdom of 
God conceived as a Christian State." ^ Thus the Congrega- 
tional Theory emerged as a Christian State both in England 
and in New England ; but it soon was forced to correct its 
error in England by the Restoration, and in New England 
by a slower process. Yet while thus embarrassed by inher- 
ited notions from state establishments, the influence of this 
theory of the Church upon liberty in the State has been im- 
mense. It laid the foundations of this Republic and may 

S3 Mackenzie's Hist. 19th Century, 459. ^ Hanbury's mst. Memorials, 1,476. 

»6 Cunningham Lectures, 1884, 294-296. 



PBESBYTEBIANISM AND BEPUBLICANISM. 91 

even claim the form of its development. " The Church was 
the nucleus about which the neighborhood constituting a 
town was gathered." No institution "has had more influ- 
ence on the condition and character of the people " than the 
republics called towns, which for several generations were 
churches or parishes acting in civil and political relations.^ 
The germ of our state and national institutions was this 
town-church, and this church was democratic and Congrega- 
tional. Thus it was that this "government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people," became the guiding star 
of all nations in civil and religious liberty. "To Robert 
Browne belongs the honor of first setting forth, in writings 
the scheme of free church government." " Such was the 
commencement of that great movement on behalf of the 
independence of the churches which has electrified the globe 
and wrought out the most stupendous political and moral 
revolution of modern times." ^' There was an earlier but 
abortive attempt in Germany. The synod of Homburg, in 
1526, gave the first formal development of Congregational- 
ism since the Reformation,^ but it was too revolutionary to 
suit the times. No statesman can omit to study the forms, 
of church government of the country he governs, for they^ 
have the closest relations to, and the most controlling bearing; 
upon, the liberties of that country. 

It has been said that " the Presbyterian Church is the most 
republican church, the most American church, so far as polit- 
ical institutions can be assimilated to religious institutions ; " 
but close inquiry does not justify such claim. The word 
republican means " pertaining to a republic ; consonant with 
the principles of a republic; " and a republic is " a state in 
which the sovereign power is exercised by representatives 
elected by the people." The particular churches under the 
Presbyterian polity elect their respective sessions only in 
part. Such sessions are composed of pastors and ruling 

36 Palfrey's Hist. New Eng., ii, 11, seq. 

37 Orthodox Congregationalism, Dr. Dorus Clarke, 39. ss q Cong. Quart., 276-280. 



92 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

elders. Eacli Presbyterian church elects and ordains its 
own ruling elders ; but its pastor, the presiding officer of the 
session, must receive his call through the presbytery, subject 
to its discretion ; for election by the church is considered as 
only a petition for installation, and his acceptance as onl}^ 
a request for installation. Hence the session is not wholly 
elected by the people. The session of each church within a 
specified district chooses one ruling elder, and these ruling 
elders with the ministers of those churches, and possibly 
other ministers, constitute a presbytery. The synod is made 
up in the same way, but from a wider district. But the gen- 
eral assembly consists of an equal delegation of ministers 
and ruling elders chosen by the presbyteries, in some speci- 
fied ratio. Thus the ruling elders are the only representa- 
tives fully and directly elected by the people. Until quite 
recently the ruling elders were chosen for life ; and they are 
still generally so chosen. Hence after the first election of 
the church session, there may be no other election by the 
people for a full generation, and then only to fill vacancies. 
This infrequent choice of ruling elders, and the choice of 
petition for a pastor, are all that the people have to do in 
*'the most American church." For the presbyteries and 
synods are made up of ruling elders elected by the sessions, 
together with the ministers. The presbyteries choose from 
themselves the commissioners of the general assembly. 
Thus every election after the choice of the session is made 
by church officers from their own number. If our political 
institutions were of this sort, then the election of town and 
city officers generally for life by the people would exhaust 
the people's right and duty. For the city and town officers 
would elect from their own number both county and state 
officers ; and these again from their own number would 
choose all national officers, as the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial. From the beginning to the end, the peo- 
ple would have but one choice, the election of town and city 
officers. Every thing beyond this initial point would be 



THE FOUB THEOBIES COMPABED. 93 

done by officers holding generally life tenures, who would 
elect from themselves, directlj^ or indirectly, county, state, 
and national officials. This is not so much republican as 
aristocratic in its principles and operation. 

This brief statement of Presbyterianism, as given in its 
Form of Government, does not justify the claim that the 
Presbyterian Church is " the most American church." It is 
almost wholly a government of officers elected for life, by offi- 
cers chosen from among themselves and by themselves. It 
is not a government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people. 

A nearer approach is found in Congregationalism, as lately 
developed into district, state, and national associations of 
churches. It is true that the element of authority is lacking 
in this system, an element not Christian, but introduced by 
the union of church and state under Constantine. But this 
return to the plan of the apostles does not deprive Congre- 
gationalism of its resemblance to republicanism. Congrega- 
tional churches elect and install their own officers, choose 
delegates to ecclesiastical councils, to district and state 
bodies, and to whatever conventions they may wish to at- 
tend. Thus elections are frequent, and by the membership, 
not by the officers. The election of delegates to the National 
Council is indirect, as the election of United States senators 
is indirect. And the candidates are not confined to officials 
but may include any member. Here is a closer parallel 
between civil and ecclesiastical institutions, as is fitting 
between the child and the parent ; for our civil institutions 
had their origin in Congregationalism. 

§ 83. It would seem hardly necessary to add that each 
one of these theories determines the activities of its adher- 
ents. Theological differences within the evangelical lines 
have some bearing upon benevolences and labors. A Cal- 
^inist and an Arminian can, however, worship and work to- 
gether, if brought into the same church, and soon forget 
their differences in a common brotherhood. There is noth- 



94 THJE CHUBCH-KINaDOM. 

ing in churcli action to raise their doctrinal differences into 
controlling position. But it is not so in matters of polity. 
A true Papist can not fraternize with a Congregationalist, 
though both believe in the consensus of faith of all Chris- 
tendom; for every church act involves a theory of the 
Church, and in their theories they are at antipodes. It is so 
also with an Episcopalian and a Presbyterian. Indeed, the 
attempt has been made to make two theories standing 
nearest together cooperate in missions at home and abroad ; 
but the theories were stronger than utilities, and so have 
drawn them into separate channels of activity. It is not 
wholly bigotry that keeps churches asunder (§ 45), but 
often adherence to principle. Conscience lies at the bottom. 
Doctrine is not so much involved in acts of worship and 
church action, but polity is involved, and hence must assert 
itself. And each theory of the Church demands that church 
acts be in harmony with itself, and that all activities center 
in itself. 

§ 84. The ecclesiastical development indicated by the 
theories presented has been useful. God's method is : 
*' First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear " 
(Mark 4 : 28). The theories have been tutors, leading unto 
the truth. They are experiments needed for the discovery 
and confirmation of the plan of Christ. The followers of 
Christ were placed as children under the liberty and unity 
of love, not under a minute and inflexible law, as were the 
children of Israel. Grand determinative principles were 
given to guide them, not minute ordinances like those which 
Moses gave, and which became a yoke of bondage. In ap- 
plying these principles mistakes arose which required centu- 
ries for their full development, as we have seen, and which 
may require centuries for their elimination. Tliis is the 
training of God's providence in his school of grace. We 
may say of the theories of church government, what has 
been said of the Christian clergy: "They came to be what 
they were by the inevitable force of circumstances, that is 



THE FOXm THEOBIES COMPABED. 95 

to say, by the gradual evolution of that great scheme of 
God's governnient of the world which, though present eter- 
nally to his sight, is but slowly unfolded before ours." ^ As 
in nature and in science and in theology, so in ecclesiology, 
there has been development through manifold tentative 
efforts. " The type remains, but it embodies itself in chang- 
ing shapes : and herein the history of the Christian churches 
has been in harmony with all else that we know of God's 
government of the world." " The history of the organiza- 
tion of Christianity has been in reality the history of suc- 
cessive readjustments of form to altered circumstances. Its 
power of readjustment has been at once a mark of its divin- 
ity and a secret of its strengtli." ^ In these tentative ad- 
justments, arising from misconceptions of revealed principles, 
but suited graciously to the environment, the Church has at 
no time lost its power to bless and save. Its mission though 
perverted has not been abandoned. We may ascribe much 
good to theories of the Church, while holding them to be 
abnormal and wrong. "We are quite willing to concede," 
with Prof. George P. Fisher, D.D., of Yale Theological Semi- 
nary, "that the Papacy itself, the centralized system of rule, 
which has been the fountain of incalculable evils, was provi- 
dentially made productive of important advantages during 
the period when ignorance and brute force prevailed, and 
when anarchy and violence constituted the main peril to 
which civilization was exposed." ^^ Anj theory, whether 
true or false, whether respecting the Church or the State, 
when once embraced by large bodies of men, must work 
itself into its legitimate results ; if it prove itself worthy, it 
will be continued ; but if it prove itself unworthy, it will be 
rejected. Thus the Church, like the world, is in a state of 
free training under the providence, the Word, and the grace 
of God. 

And what shall be the outcome? We answer in the 

39 Org. Early Christ. Churches, Hatch, 163. " Discussions in Hist, and Theol. 162. 

^ Ibid. 212, 213. 



96 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

words of one competent to speak, an adherent of tlie AngL*- 
can Church : " It would seem as though, in that vast secular 
revolution which is accomplishing itself, all organizations^ 
whether ecclesiastical or civil, must be, as the early churches 
were, more or less democratical : and the most significant 
fact of modern Christian history is that, within the last hun- 
dred years, many millions of our own race and our own 
Church, without departing from the ancient faith, have 
slipped from beneath the inelastic framework of the ancient 
organization, and formed a group of new societies on the 
basis of a closer Christian brotherhood and an almost abso- 
lute democracy."^ We are working back to the original 
model : " In the first ages of its history, while on the one 
hand it was a great and living faith, so on the other hand it 
was a vast and organized brotherhood. And being a brother- 
hood, it was a democracy." ^ The bright promise of the 
future lies in the words : " And all ye are brethren " (Matto 
23: 8). 

^ Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Churches, 215. *3 Ibid. 213. 



LECTURE V. 

THE DOCTEINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — MATERIALS^ 
— CONSTITUTIVE PRINCIPLE. 

" But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for 
God^s own possession.'"' — Saint Peter. 

'' With freedom did Christ set us free : stand fast therefore, and be not 
entangled again in a yoke of bondage.'''' — Saint Paul. 

§ 85. Haying covered the field of possible polities in our 
brief survey of the Christian Church, we need here to note 
the chief landmarks. God has established his Church to 
reveal his wisdom and grace unto the world. That Church 
has had three forms or models, the Patriarchal, the Ceremo- 
nial, and the Christian; or, the family church, the national 
church, and the ecumenical church. Of the latter, four grand 
conceptions have been developed into four simple, exclusive,, 
ecumenical systems. Each one of these four conceptions or 
theories we have reduced to its constitutive principle, with 
its development, in some instances mixed with foreign ele- 
ments. Each of these systems is contending for the 
mastery of Christendom. We have shown also that as God 
has not framed the universe on discordant plans, but on one 
comprehensive plan, revealing his wisdom, as science even 
now discloses, so Christ has not built his Church on dis- 
cordant principles, but on one comprehensive plan, revealing 
the unity of the kingdom of heaven. Any other supposition 
impeaches his wisdom and the inspiration of his apostles. 
Hence the question is forced with irresistible logic upon 
every believer and every communion of believers : What is 
the true theory or conception of the Chiistian Church? 

We are prepared to give an answer to this question with 
charity toward all and with malice toward none, since we 
have shoAvn how closely the great polities run together in 



98 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

their dominant principles and how each pohty is worthy of 
the profoundest study. We trust that our answer will not 
be deemed presumptuous ; for, if wrong, we shall not part 
company with the multitude who have spoken as confidently 
as we, only to be in the end mistaken. We shall exhibit 
f uU}^ what we hold to be the doctrine of the Christian Church 
under appropriate heads with proofs. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH. 

§ 86. Let us explain terms that we may be understood. 
We mean by " Christian Church " the manward side of the 
kingdom of heaven, wliich Christ set up in the world on the 
day of Pentecost, in its whole manifestation. The term 
" Church of God " is more comprehensive, since it includes 
the three dispensations, which neither the term kingdom 
(§ 35) nor the term Christian Church includes. We meaji 
by " doctrine " the principles, facts, and development which 
go to make up the manifested kingdom among men. These 
principles and facts stand in logical connection by which the 
development is shaped. We call it " the doctrine " because 
it seems to us to be the principles and facts given in the 
New Testament and confirmed by the institutions of the 
apostolic churches working out into a normal system. The 
system is the only one, as we view it, which those principles 
and facts warrant. Hence it must be the doctrine for all 
who accept the Bible as the only and sufficient rule of reli- 
gious faith and practice, if our interpretation be correct. 

§ 87. But here arises a great difficulty in respect to what 
shall be regarded as the standard of faith and practice. It 
is difficult to argue when the parties can not agree upon any 
common criterion or test by which to determine the value of 
proof. And this is our trouble here. Christian communions 
do not agree as to standards and their differences are radical. 
" All communities of Christendom, with the exception of the 
Socinians, agree that the divine revelation of truth is con- 



STANDABDS OF BELIEF. 99 

tained simply and purely in the Holy Scriptures. But they 
differ from each other in this : The Protestant confessions 
alone regard the written volume of revelation as complete in 
itself ; while all others either (1) place in juxtaposition with 
Scripture certain coordinate sources of Christian knowledge 
and instruction, the Greeks a so-called tradition, and the 
Romanists tradition and its living, teaching authority, that 
is, the Pope, or (2) holding the proper source of the knowl- 
edge of the divine things to be a direct illumination of every 
individual by the Holy Ghost, subordinate the Scriptures to 
this personal enhghtment as merely its testimony (or regula 
secundaria) and Tvdtness. These are represented by the 
Quakers." ^ From tliis, and from the consensus and dis- 
sensus of the creeds,^ we may classify the standards of belief 
as follows : — 

(1) The Socinians and Rationalists elevate Reason above 
Scripture, Tradition, Inner Light, and the Church. 

(2) The Quakers elevate the Inner Light above Reason, 
the Scriptures, Tradition, and the Church. 

(3) The AngHcan Church (generally) elevates the Script- 
ures above Reason, the Inner Light, and Tradition, but 
raises the Church to an equahty with the Scriptures. 

(4) The Greek Church elevates the Scriptures above the 
Inner Light and Reason, but makes them coordinate with 
Tradition and the General Councils of the Church. 

(5) The Roman Cathohc Church elevates the Scriptures 
above Reason and the Inner Light, but raises to an equahty 
with them Tradition and the Pope. 

(6) The Presbyterians, Congregationahsts, Baptists, Meth- 
odists, Lutherans, and others elevate the Scriptures above 
Reason, Inner Light, Tradition, Pope, and the Church. With 
them, as with all true Protestants, the Scriptures are the 
only and sufficient standard of faith, morals, and pohty : for 
the Scriptures alone are inspired and infalhble. 

1 Winer's Confessions of Christendom, I, i, 37. 
- Schaflf's Creeds of Chrisieudom, i, 919, seq. 



100 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

Witli such confusion respecting the standards by which 
all arguments are to be tested, the truth of God both in 
theology and in polity has had hard work to find acceptance. 
What is conclusive with one has no weight with another. 
Even where the Scriptures are held to be coordinate with 
tradition or the living oracle in the Church, they are practi- 
cally subordinate, as being interpreted by the other standard 
or standards. Although thus embarrassed by the number of 
standards of belief, the truth of God must ultimately prevail, 
until this article of the present consensus : " The Divine 
Inspiration and Authority of the Canonical Scriptures in 
matters of faith and morals," and, we add, poHty, excludes 
all other standards. 

I. — THE ^vIATERIALS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH. 

§ 88. We mean by materials those of whom the Christian 
Church is properly composed — they who form it. And here^ 
in order to completeness and the understanding of the case, 
we will consider the materials of the family church, the 
Hebrew congregation, the Je^vish synagogue, the kingdom of 
heaven or Christian Church, and the local churches or par- 
ticular congregations of believers. 

§ 89. In the patriarchal, or famil}^, form of the Church, the 
children and servants were members as well as the parents 
or heads of the family. There was no separation between 
the pious and the wicked, except in rare instances, as the 
expulsion of Cain, the casting out of Ishmael, the flight of 
Jacob, and similar cases (§ 14). The whole household con- 
stituted the material of tliis visible form — parents, children, 
and servants. Even the seal of the Abrahamic covenant 
was applied to all males ahke (§ 11 : 4). 

§ 90. " The congregation, or assembly, of Israel " is the 
translation of hahal^ which is often used in the Old Testa- 
ment. "It describes the Hebrew people in its collective 
capacity under its peculiar aspect as a holy community, held 



MATEBIAL OF THE CHUB OR. lUl 

together by religious rather than political bonds. Sometimes 
it is used in a broad sense as inclusive of foreign settlers 
(Ex. 12 : 19) ; but more properly, as exclusively appropriate 
to the Hebrew element of the population (Num. 15 : 15). 
. . . Every circumcised Hebrew . . . was a member of the 
congregation, and took part in its proceedings, probably from 
the time that he bore arms. . . . Strangers settled in the 
land, if circumcised, were with certain exceptions (Deut 23 : 
1-8) admitted to the privileges, and are spoken of as mem- 
bers of the congregation in its more extended application." ^ 

Thus the circumcised became members of the congrega- 
tion, assembly, or holy community. The sign and seal of 
the covenant of promise, when applied to Hebrew or heathen 
and to their children (Gen. 17 : 10-14), made them members 
of the national Church. Circumcision was made a distin- 
guishing test of admission. Tliis external rite was the sym- 
bol, however, of an internal relation, which all who were 
communicants did not possess. Hence the command to cir- 
cumcise the heart (Deut. 10 : 16 ; 30 : 6), and the words of 
Paul : " For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither 
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : but he is 
a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the 
heart" (Rom. 2: 28, 29). The materials of the spiritual 
realm were not then identical with those of the national 
Church; the boundaries of the two were not identical and 
conterminous. 

§ 91. The synagogue grew up without express warrant 
from the law or from a prophet to meet a want (§ 41 : 1). 
The assembly, or congregation, of Israel was divided up in 
synagogues into many congregations, as many as were needed 
for neighborhood worship. To become a member of a syna- 
gogue, as of the congregation of Israel, a stranger was 
required to adopt the Jemsh faith and ritual and to be cir- 
cumcised ; that is, become a Jew. Such were the materials 
of the synagogue. But many heathen, after the dispersion 

3 Congregation, Smith's Diet. Bible, Am. Ed. 



102 THE CHUBGH' KINGDOM. 

of Israel, were brought by it into contact with the mono- 
theistic faith and worship, and became "half-proselytes, 
called, 'proselytes of the gate,' who embraced the mono-^ 
theism and Messianic hopes of the Jews without submitting 
to circumcision and conforming to the Jewish ritual. They 
are called in the New Testament religious, devout, God- 
fearing persons. They were the first converts [to Chris- 
tianity], and formed generally the nucleus of Paul's congre- 
gations." * Such persons were in the process of becoming 
full proselytes, when Christ was preached to them. And 
"a full proselyte, called 'proselyte of righteousness,' was 
one that was circumcised and in full communion with the 
synagogue." ^ 

The materials of the congregation of Israel in its compre- 
hensive sense, as also when divided into many synagogue 
congregations, were still further defined by the exercise of 
excommunication. Certain persons were to be cut off from 
the congregation of Israel (Ex. 12: 19; Num. 19: 20). 
Christ referred to excommunication from the synagogue 
(Luke 6: 22; John 9: 22, 23, 34, 35). The third and last, 
step in this process was entire exclusion, so that a man thus 
excluded would be as a heathen. This discipline of the 
synagogue did not rest on the law of Moses, since the syna- 
gogue was not a Mosaic institution (§ 41 : 1), but is the 
natural right of every organization that it may protect itself' 
from evil men. 

§ 92. The kingdom of heaven is composed only of holy 
persons. No one can doubt this. Christ taught even "the^ 
teacher of Israel," Nicodemus, that "except a man be born 
anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God," and that he must 
"be born of water and the spirit," or "he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God" (John 3: 3, 5). Heart righteousness,, 
and not ceremonial righteousness merely, must be had, or 
one can " in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven " 
(Matt. 5 : 20). The unrighteous shall not inherit the. 

4 Schaflf'8 Bible Diet., Art. Proselyte. 



MATEBIAL OF THE CHUBCH. 103 

kingdom of heaven (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5: 19-21; Eph. 
^: b'). The materials of the kingdom of heaven are there- 
fore regenerate, holy persons, sinners renewed in the spirit 
of their minds (Eph. 4 : 23), new creatures in Christ Jesus 
(2 Cor. 5: 17; Gal. 6 : 15). 

§ 93. The Church of Christ is the manifested kingdom 
on earth. Hence Christ is King of the kingdom and " Head 
of the Church." The Church is subject to Christ as a wife 
to her husband. " Christ also loved the church, and gave him- 
self up for it ; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it 
by the washing of water with the word, that he might pre- 
sent the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot 
or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
mthout blemish " (Eph. 5 : 23-2T). The Church is Christ's 
body (Col. 1 : 18, 24). This Church can be none other than 
the invisible, spiritual body or realm which is identical in 
membership or materials with the kingdom of heaven, above 
described ; and yet not quite identical in conception or idea, 
with the kingdom. The terms " the kingdom " and " the 
Church " express two somewhat different views of the same 
realm. The Christward view is called the kingdom; the 
manward view is called the Church. That is, the redeemed 
viewed in their relation to Christ their king is the kingdom ; 
but the redeemed viewed in their relation to men is the 
Church. The kingdom is the Christward side of the Church 
and the Church is the manward side of the kingdom. Hence 
" the gospel of the kingdom " appropriately represents Chris- 
tianity, and so it is used (Matt. 4 : 23 ; 9 : 35 ; 24 : 14) ; but 
" the gospel of the Church " would not properly represent it,, 
and so it is never used. 

This being the case, the materials of both are the same. 
Those who constitute the kingdom constitute also the Church 
of Christ. And the conditions of citizenship in the kingdom 
become the conditions of membership in the Church. What 
admits to the one admits to the other ; and what excludes 
from the one excludes from the other: for the one is the 
other, viewed only in a different relation. 



104 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

Tliis churcli-kingdom, by the laws of its continuance and 
growth, manifests itself in the world, and chiefly in and 
through local churches (§ 42). Hence we must consider 
their proper membership. 

§ 94. The local, particular church should be composed 
of behevers, or holy persons. They should be composed of 
the same materials as the church-kingdom. This is of the 
utmost importance, and hence we must prove it. 

(1) It is reasonable that the tiling which manifests should 
be of the same material as the tiling manifested. The king- 
dom, as we have seen (§ 42), or the Church, is chiefly 
manifested among men in and through local churches, which 
stud Christendom as the stars bestud the sky. But if the 
churches be composed of others than the members of the 
kingdom, how can they manifest forth the Church of Christ 
or the kingdom of heaven ? Synagogues of Satan (Rev. 2 : 
9 ; 3 : 9) can not represent the Church of Christ. And to 
the degree in which the churches are mixed bodies, partly 
of the world and partly of the kingdom, they must fail to 
witness for the spiritual and holy Church. How can a tree 
bearing bad fruit be a manifestation of a tree bearing good 
fruit? How can death exliibit life? or darkness hght? or 
error truth? One body can not be a fit manifestation of 
another body, whether in whole or in part, unless it be of 
the nature, character, spirit, materials of the body repre- 
sented. Tills is too plain for question. Hence it is a tiling 
reasonable and to be expected that local churches should be 
composed of the same materials or members as the church- 
kingdom, with the same essential conditions of admission. 

(2) This reasonable presumption is confirmed by the teach- 
ings of the New Testament, which we need to examine care- 
fully. 

(a) The local churches are addressed as holy bodies. Paul 
calls them, " beloved of God, called to be saints " (Rom. 1 : 
T) ; " sanctified in Christ Jesus " (1 Cor. 1 : 2) ; " the faith- 
ful in Christ Jesus " (Eph. 1 : 1) ; " saints and faithful breth- 



MATEBIAL OF LOCAL CHURCHES. 105 

ren in Christ " (Col. 1 : 2) ; " God's elect, holy and beloved " 
(Col. 3: 12). Peter calls them "living stones," to be "built 
up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up 
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ " 
(1 Pet. 2 : 5) ; " an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy 
nation, a people for God's own possession" (1 Pet. 2: 9). 
These and similar expressions can properly apply only to 
churches whose members are citizens of Christ's kingdom. 

(5) The conditions of membership indicate that the local 
churches are viewed as spiritual bodies. We have seen that 
admission into the church-kingdom requires a new birth, 
repentance, faith, righteousness. These are made conditions 
of admission into the visible churches. On the day of Pente- 
cost, when the Cliristian Church was recognized and inaugu- 
rated, repentance was required, and acceptance of the Gospel 
(Acts 2: 38, 42), by such as "were being saved" (Acts 2: 
47). Belief in Christ the only name (Acts 4 : 12) made all 
"of one heart and soul" (Acts 4: 32). But tliis belief in- 
volved a change of heart, as is seen by contrasting Simon 
Magus (Acts 8 : 13, 20-23) with Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9 : 1, 
5, 15) and the jailer of Philippi (Acts 16 : 30, 31). The 
preaching of the aposliles testified, "both to Jews and to 
Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord 
Jesus Christ" (Acts 20 : 21). Without faith it is impossible 
to be well-pleasing unto God (Heb. 11: 6). These tests, 
which were ever applied, sought to exclude from the churches 
all who were not already in the church-kingdom. 

(c) The initiatory rite required for admission into the 
visible churches is symbohc of a changed life. After the day 
of Pentecost, whoever joined the churches was baptized as 
the sign of spiritual cleansing. It had been enjoined by 
Christ himself on his disciples (Matt. 28 : 19). Hence, when 
the new dispensation was inaugurated, and thereafter, all 
believers were baptized (Acts 2 ; 41 ; 8 : 12, 38 ; 9 : 18 ; 10 : 
48, etc.). Baptism did not renew the heart, or make one a 
Christian ; it was the external symbol of the internal cleans- 



106 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM, 

ing througli the blood of Christ, on repentance and faith. " For 
in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body " (1 Cor. 12 : 
13) ; being "buried therefore with him through baptism into> 
death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead; . . . 
so we also might walk in newness of life " (Rom. 6:4; Col. 
2: 12). "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ 
did put on Christ" (Gal. 3: 27). Hence baptism is called 
by Paul "the washing of regeneration," and is joined with 
" renewing of the Holy Ghost " (Tit. 3 : 5), as the completed 
work of admission. Ananias said to Saul: "Arise, and be 
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his [Christ's] 
name " (Acts 22 : 16). But baptism into the name of the 
Trinity availed nothing without faith (Acts 8 : 13, 21 ; 1 
John 2 : 19). To avail any thing, baptism must be the sign 
of a new creation (Gal. 6 : 15). 

(c?) These conditions imply a creed, some rule of faith; 
and there are hints of such creed other than those given in 
the preceding conditions of membership. The central article 
of this creed was, and is, that Jesus is the Christ, the Lamb 
of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Hence " the 
churches were strengthened in the faith " (Acts 16 : 5). Paul 
was heard " concerning the faith in Christ Jesus " (Acts 24 : 
24). The baptismal formula was, and is, a creed in itself, the 
norm of the Apostles' Creed and of all others. But there 
were added to it " the pattern of sound words " (2 Tim. 1 : 
13), which were received as axioms of the faith from the 
apostle. 

(e) To all these, as the conclusive proof of the identity in 
materials of the local churches with the church-kingdom, 
was added the power of church discipline. Judas Iscariot 
had gone " to his own place " (Acts 1 : 25) before the Chris- 
tian Church was inaugurated. But the sharpness of this 
discipline was shown when Ananias and Sapphira lied to God 
the Holy Ghost (Acts 5 : 1-11). This was a miraculous in- 
terposition ; but the ordinary procedure is given by the Head 
of the Church (Matt. 18 : 15-18). Fellowship was not to 



MATEBIAL OF LOCAL CHUBCHE8. 107 

Le held with fornicators, covetous persons, idolaters, revilers, 
drunkards, extortioners, and the like, no, not to eat (1 Cor. 
5 : 11). The Church was commanded to put away an incestu- 
ous man (1 Cor. 5: 13). Departures from the word are to 
be treated in the same way (2 Thess. 3 : 14, 15), and greet- 
ings are to be withheld from errorists (2 John 10, 11). All 
such go out from the churches because they are not of the 
church-kingdom (1 John 2 : 19). 

(/) There was a wide difference, then, between a church 
and its congregation. The local church was a body of believ- 
ers, of redeemed saints ; but the congregation was a mixed 
body of believers and unbelievers (1 Cor. 14: 23). Men 
were not made church members, except on conditions which 
involved a renewed life, and which separated them from the 
rest of mankind. A church was unlike any other organiza- 
tion that appeared among men : for it was a spiritual body,, 
composed of saints, into which no unrenewed persons could 
properly be admitted. Hence each church was composed, on 
Scriptural grounds, of the same sort of persons or materials 
as the church-kingdom. 

(3) This position is confirmed by the attitude of the apos- 
tolic churches. "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," 
recently discovered, carries us back near to the year of our 
Lord 100, and gives as the law of the churches this rule:: 
" And let no one eat nor drink of your Eucharist, but those 
who have been baptized into the name of the Lord." ^ Clem- 
ent Romanus (a.d. 30-100), in writing to the church in Cor- 
inth, addressed it as "called and sanctified by the will of 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And the church of 
Smyrna, which first used the term "holy and catholic," 
speaks "of all the congregations of the holy and eatholie 
church in every place." ^ Justin Martyr (a.d. 110-165); 
says : " As many as are persuaded and believe that what we 
teach and say is true, and undertake to live accordingly, are 
instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the 
remission of their sins that are past. . . . Then they are 

5 Chap. ix. 6 Ep. on Martyrdom of Polycarp. 



108 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

T)rought by us where there is water, and they are regenerated 
in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated," '' 
that is, baptized. The early churches also cast out heretics 
and immoral men.^ 

Hence Hatch says : " In the earliest period, the basis of 
Christian fellowship was a changed life — ' repentance toward 
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.' ... In the 
second period, the idea of a definite belief as a basis of union 
dominated over that of a holy life. ... In the third period, 
insistence on Catholic faith had led to the insistence on 
Catholic order." ^ The churches started on the theory of a 
holy membership, tested by a changed life. 

§ 95. The inability fully to attain that absolute purity in 
local churches which exists in the church-kingdom does not 
invalidate this argument drawn from reason, from the New 
Testament, and from the primitive churches, that only regen- 
erate persons, those born anew, are proper members of local 
churches because only such are members of the church- 
kingdom. Only those who have the life of Christ in the 
heart are the materials of Christian churches. All others 
are foreigners. Those only who are of faith belong to the 
household of faith (1 John 2 : 19). None others can ration- 
ally, S crip tur ally, and historically be admitted, though the 
standard be often unattainable. 

Nor does infant circumcision and infant baptism invalidate 
this argument in either of the three dispensations. The one 
was commanded in the patriarchal and ceremonial dispensa- 
tions as the seal of the covenant ; the other is implied in the 
Christian dispensation by the continuance of the covenant 
(Gal. 3 : 17, 29), by baptism being substituted for circum- 
cision (Col. 2 : 11, 12), by the words of Christ respecting chil- 
dren : '' Of such is the kingdom of heaven " (Matt. 19 : 14), 
and by the words of Paul (1 Cor. 7 : 14). This, however, 
will be more fully discussed hereafter. (§§ 149-153.) 

§ 96. This discussion regarding the materials of the 

^ Apol. i, ch. Ixi. 8 Canons of Church of Alexandria. 

9 Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 182-184. 



MATEBIAL OF LOCAL CHUBCHES. 109 

Church reveals a gradual development which we do well to 
note. There was in the family form the slightest possible 
separation between the saint and the sinner. Under the 
national form there was a clear separation between the chil- 
dren of Israel and all other peoples, which hardened into 
a contempt for all Gentiles. But within the national fellow- 
ship, the contrast between the faithful Israelite and the 
unfaithful became more clearly marked than under the pre- 
ceding dispensation. Certain men were to be cut off from the 
congregation as incorrigible. The prophets too denounced 
sins and wicked Israelites in unmeasured terms, in the name 
of the Lord. And about the time the prophets ceased, the 
synagogue arose and spread every-where with its social wor- 
ship conducted by laymen. This worship cultivated the 
piety of the true Israelite, but hardened the worship of the 
undevout Jew into the hollow formalism of the Pharisees, 
which Christ with his woes could not break. There was 
a still further separation, which went on, until the winnowing- 
fan of Christ completely separated the wheat from the chaff. 
Then arose the kingdom of heaven with its organic manifes- 
tations, the local churches, whose members are renewed sin- 
ners, the same as the members of the church-kingdom. Thus 
the life of God in the hearts of men has unfolded in more 
distinctive and characteristic forms, until it appears at last 
in visible bodies expressive of its holy nature. These bodies 
are called churches, formed, when normally formed, of the 
same materials as the church-kingdom. 

Here arises the greatest question in church polity, because 
it dominates all others : — 



II. — THE RELATION OF ONE LOCAL CHURCH TO OTHER 
LOCAL CHURCHES. 

§ 97. It is manifest that if local churches are composed 
of the same materials as the church-kingdom, they must be 
spiritually one, as the church-kingdom is one. They are all 



110 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

branches of the same Vine, households of the same realm, 
members of the same body. They possess, how much soever 
they may fail to exliibit it, unity in the following respects : 
(1) unity of headship, "one Lord"; (2) unity of behef, 
" one faith " ; (3) unity of sacraments, " one baptism " ; (4) 
unity of confidence, " one hope of their calling " ; (5) " unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace " ; (6) unity of comprehen- 
sion, " one body " ; (7) unity of government, " one God " ; 
(8) unity of creed, " unity of the faith, and of the knowl- 
edge of the Son of God " ; (9) unity of brotherhood, " one 
God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and 
in all" (Eph. 4: 4-6,13). 

This spiritual unity can not be broken, whatever the rela- 
tion of one church to another. It is indivisible, because the 
church-kingdom is indivisible (§ 32 : 2). Those that leave 
it, if any ever do, apostatize, and become forever separated 
from Christ the Head and from his body. Hence every local 
church is spiritually one with every other similar church. 
There never has been, is not now, and never can be, a divi- 
sion between them spiritually. Springing from the church- 
kingdom, they all are one. 

§ 98. But in consequence of this spiritual unity they are 
in their relation one to another independent. Each one sus- 
tains exactly the same relation as the rest to the underlying 
church-kingdom, out of which they equally spring, and of 
which they are equally the manifestations in organic form. 
No matter who planted them, or how they came into being, 
or what their creed or ritual or government ; if churches of 
Christ at all, and not synagogues of Satan, they are equal 
and independent. For they become churches neither by his- 
torical connection, nor by form of government, nor by mode 
of worship, nor by doctrinal statement; but by possessing 
the life hid with Christ in God, by being integral parts of the 
church-kingdom, by having as members converted and, there- 
fore, holy men. God alone gives the increase. His Spirit 
renews. Hence a church, being composed of renewed men, is 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHUB CHE 8. Ill 

born not merely by the will of man but by tbe grace of God. 
There is a human element, which is superficial ; the divine 
^element is fundamental, and makes the renewed congregation 
Si chiuxh. 

Hence each church standing in the same relation to Jesus 
and his church-kingdom as the rest must stand in essen- 
tial equality with all the rest, subject to no one of them. 
^o one has the right or authority to lord it over another. 
A large church, or a mother church, or a metropolitan church, 
possesses no peculiar or superior rights and powers. The 
natural relation of church to church, in such a church-king- 
dom, is that of independence as respects control, and brother- 
hood as respects fellowship and labor. One is equal to 
another, and independent of another, but subject to Christ 
the Head. 

§ 99. The Christian rule of discipline rests upon this 
independence of each church. Tliis rule was given by the 
jVIaster, taken, it may be, from the synagogue, but made by 
Ms command the law of Christian churches. AVe shall use 
only so much of the rule at present as bears on the relation 
of church to church. Clnrist said respecting the one under 
disciphne : " And if he refuse to hear the church also, 
let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the pubhcan " (Matt. 
18: 17). 

(1) The church here meant is the local church, or congre- 
gation of believers, to wliich the offender belongs. 

(a) It is true no local church then existed; and it is 
equally true that the process of gathering an ecdesia, or con- 
gregation of believers in Jesus, out of the kahal, or congrega- 
tion of Israel, had not yet been completed, and was not com- 
pleted until the day of Pentecost, when the followers of 
Jesus were divinely recognized as the true Church or congre- 
gation, to join which thereafter all had to be baptized (§ 39). 
Wliile the mnnowing-fan was in the hand of the Tln-esher, 
and the wheat had not been separated from the chaff, it is 
not probable that Clnist regarded those then professing to be 



112 THE CHUBCH- KIXGDOM. 

his disciples as tlie eeclesia to wliicli lie committed tlie matter 
of discipline. All Clnist's teachings looked forward to the 
establishment of his kingdom, unless this rule is an excep- 
tion. That it is not is evident from what he said of his 
church in Matt. 16 : 18. 

(^) It has also been said that " church " here means the 
Jemsh synagogue. But Christ was a lawgiver like unto 
Moses, legislating for a new dispensation as Moses did, and 
the case must be desperate indeed that would confine liis law 
of discipline to a dispensation which he came to fulfill and 
supersede in about a year. 

(fT) If Jesus added tliis rule of discipline to the Mosaic 
law, then that law has not been abolished as Paul taught 
(Eph. 2: 15; CoL 2 : 14). 

(f?) His rule of discipline was given for his churches, and 
for them alone. Each local church deals mth its own delin- 
quents. The words, "tell it unto the church," can not refer 
to the Church universal ; for it never meets. They do not 
refer to a national or provincial church organization, for each 
sjmagogue completed its own discipline ; and, besides, if 
Clu-ist enlarged the sjmagogue rule which he adopts, the 
steps by which appeals might be taken ought to have been 
given. The word can not refer to ecclesiastical rulers, but it 
refers to the particular local church. If such a church choose 
a church board for discipline, subject to itself, the church 
acts through that board. The power lies in the church that 
appoints, not in the elders or stewards or council. Clnist 
did not make elders or other officers the chui'ch, but instead 
the congregation of believers. 

The apostles so understood the word church. Paul required 
the church to excommunicate a man (1 Cor. 5 : 4, 5, 13), 
which it did by majority vote (2 Cor. 2: 6). Tliis was in 
A.D. 57 or 58. John, a.d. 96 or 100, did not cast out, but 
depended upon the church to act when he should be present 
(3 John 9, 10). The church at Corinth deposed faithful 
elders,^^ which involved the power of discipline; and the 

10 Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. xliv. 



INDEPENDENCi: OF LOCAL CHTJUCHES. 113 

church, right is not questioned, but the church is urged to 
"live on terms of peace T\'ith the presbyters set over it."^^ 
" In earher days each separate case came for judgment before 
the whole church." ^^ It seems impossible to escape the con- 
clusion that Christ in his law of discipline had reference tc 
the local church, however small that church might be. 

(2) The disciphne of the local church is final. There is 
no intervening tribunal or court between the first and last 
step, and no appeal from the vote of expulsion. There is no 
passage in the New Testament which impairs this conclusion 
by intimating some farther process. The Master made the 
action of the local church in the discipline of its members 
final. 

(3) This finality is confirmed by what Christ says of 
" binding " and " loosing." His words are : " Verily I say 
unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven : and what things soever ye shall loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven " (Matt. 18 : 18). He apphed 
the same words to Peter (Matt. 16 : 19), and stronger words 
to the apostles (John 20: 23). The words "to bind" and 
" to loose " were common among the rabbis ; and " to bind " 
meant to forbid or prohibit, and " to loose " to permit or 
allow. Some would confine the authority conferred in them 
to the apostles, while others would carry it over to the 
churches also. So also there is question whether legislative 
or judicial authority is meant, or both together. But which- 
ever interpretation be the correct one the finahty of the 
action of the local church in discipline is equally assured. 
If Clirist ratifies therein the acts of local churches in disci- 
pline, then no appeal can be taken from such action to eccle- 
siastical tribunals. When the king promises to ratify the 
decisions of a specified tribunal, all other appeals are ex- 
cluded. If our Lord addi^essed these words to the apostles 
alone, then their connection shows that the authority con- 

^1 Clement Komanus, Ep. Cor. liv. 

12 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 100. 



114 THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

f erred, whether legislative or judicial, or both, could not be 
used by them to set aside this law of discipline which he had 
just given. This rule would stand in full force to guide 
them, as it did in fact guide them. Peter acknowledged the 
power of a local church to call him to account for his conduct 
in the case of the Roman Cornelius (Acts 11 : 1-18) ; and 
Paul laid the duty of excommunication upon the local church 
(1 Cor. 5: 1, 5, 13). "W^iatever view we take, therefore, of 
binding and loosing, the independence and completeness of 
the local church in matters of discipline must stand ; for we 
can not believe that after giving a rule of discipline Christ 
immediately gave his apostles authority to annul it, or to add 
to it. AVhether spoken to the local church, as the connection 
implies, or to the apostles alone, the promise of ratification 
makes the discipline of the local church final. 

Thus the Christian rule of discipline is founded upon the 
independence of each local church, as respects other local 
churches, whose action is final and supreme. 

§ 100. The election of church officers is also founded 
Tipon the same principle, namely, the independence under 
Clirist of each local church. Of this we shall speak particu- 
larly. 

(1) When the place of Judas Iscariot was to be filled, the 
eleven faithful apostles did not presume, in the exercise of 
their power of the keys, to choose his successor. They 
referred the election to the company of believers in Jerusalem, 
the one hundred and twenty, the Cliristian ecdesia, winnowed 
out of the kahaU or congregation, of Israel. They " put for- 
ward two " ; then " cast lots," which one should be an apostle. 
" And the lot fell upon Matthias ; and he was numbered with 
the eleven apostles" (Acts 1: 23-26). "It is uncertain 
whether this putting forward two was the act of the apostles, 
presenting the two men to the choice of the whole body of 
disciples, or of the community choosing them for ultimate 
decision by lot. The Greek word imphes that Matthias 
was '• voted in,' the suffrages of the church unanimously con- 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHURCHES. 115 

iirming the indications of the divine will which had been 
given by the lot" (Plumptre). "All those assembled 'put 
forward two ' " (Meyer). In the most important election 
ever held in the Christian Church, then one local body, the 
whole assembly participated. The use of the lot carried the 
final choice between the two up to God. The apostles only 
superintended the election, giving the needed quahficatiorLS, 
and prajdng before the casting of the lots (Acts 1 : 21, 22, 
24, 25). This was an election to the apostolate recognized as 
valid after the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the mention of 
" the twelve " (Acts 6:2); and it was not set aside or super- 
seded by the subsequent call of Paul as the apostle to the 
Gentiles (Acts 9: 15). 

(2) The election of seven assistants of the apostles on the 
occasion of the first dissension in the Church was expressly 
by "the multitude of the disciples" (Acts 6: 1-6). The 
multitude chose the men to serve (or deacon) tables, judging 
of their qualifications, " whom they set before the apostles : 
and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them." 
This office gave rise to the order of deacons in Christian 
churches (Phil. 1:1). Their ordination by the apostles did 
not involve the power of confirmation or ratification on the 
part of the apostles. 

(3) When the church-kingdom had extended and appeared 
in many local churches, the churches held intercommunion 
by delegates, as the haJial^ or congregation, of the old dis- 
pensation had been dispersed into all nations and appeared 
in local synagogues with communication between them. A 
messenger was " chosen of the churches to travel with Paul " 
with contributions for the poor saints in. Judsea (2 Cor. 8: 
19). It was by church action, on command by the Spirit, 
that Paul and Barnabas were sent on their first missionary 
tour (Acts 13: 1-3). These first missionaries were in fact 
a deputation from the church in Antioch. It was the same 
church that " appointed that Paul and Barnabas, and certain 
other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles 



116 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

and elders " (Acts 15 : 2), to consult them about the ques- 
tion of circumcision. These messengers were chosen by the 
churches, not by the apostles, as bodies independent one of 
another in matters of control. 

(4) There is no account of the election or appointment 
of elders in the churches. They were the same in the primi- 
tive churches as bishops, presbyters, pastors (§ 118 : 4). They 
are first mentioned as receiving contributions from the hand 
of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11 : 30) ; then it is said : " And 
when they had appointed for them elders in every city" 
(Acts 14: 23). Thus these officers first appear in the 
churches, "instituted after the manner of the synagogue"; 
"but certainly the presbyters (Acts 11: 30), as elsewhere 
(Acts 14 : 23), so also in Jerusalem (Acts 15 : 22 ; 21 : 18), 
were chosen by the church, and apostolically installed" 
(Meyer). "The word for 'appointed' certainly seems to 
imply popular election (election by show of hands), which 
is, indeed, the natural meaning of the word" (Plumptre). 
" They were appointed by taking the vote of the people., the 
apostles merely presiding over the choice " (Schaff, Banner- 
man, Alford, Lange, Stanley). Later, the custom by which 
" church officers were freely chosen by the several communi- 
ties from their adult members," was changed.^^ Others, how- 
ever, hold that elders were at first appointed by the apostles 
(Hackett). 

We see, then, that local churches, in the exercise of their 
right arising from their relation to the church-kingdom, 
elected their own officers and messengers. The action of 
each was complete in itself without reference to any other 
church. Or if any superintendency or confirmation were re- 
quired in ordination, it was found only in the functions of the 
apostles, which, as we shall show, ceased at their death. 

§ 101. If we turn from internal discipline and the election 
of church officers to the relation of one church to another, we 
find marks of their individual independence. The primitive 

13 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 202. 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHUB CHE 8. 117 

churches had constant intercourse one with another. Com- 
mendatory letters were given (Acts 18 : 27 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 1, 2) ; 
messengers were sent from one to another (Acts 15 : 2) ; the 
distress of churches in one country was relieved by the gifts 
of foreign churches (Acts 11 : 29, 30 ; 1 Cor. 16 : 1-3 ; Rom. 
15 : 26) ; and epistles sent to one church were requested to 
be forwarded to another (Col. 4 : 16). " The seven churches, 
addressed in the seven epistles (Rev. 2 ; 3), are presented as 
distinct from each other. No sign of common government 
is visible ; no other bonds of union amongst the churches can 
be recognized than the interchange of common spiritual sym- 
pathies and subjection to a common divine law." ^* 

There is no intimation in the New Testament that one 
church was subordinate to another ; but on the contrary 
each church managed its own discipline, elected its own 
officers, and conducted all its intercourse with other churches 
as an independent body, not subject to the supervision or 
control of any other church. 

§ 102. And this is what we should expect both from the 
relation of the churches to the church-kingdom and from 
their model, the Jewish synagogue. Nearly every town and 
city where the apostles preached had one or more synagogues. 
The separation of Christians from these synagogues was 
gradual. In these synagogues were " rulers " of the syna- 
gogue. "They formed the local Sanhedrin, or tribunal. 
But their election depended on the choice of the congrega- 
tion." 1^ " The supreme official, like the two other members 
of the local court " in each synagogue was elected. " His 
election entirely depended upon the suffrages of the members 
of the synagogue." The three almoners " had to be elected 
by the unanimous voice of the people." ^^ Synagogues had 
power to inflict corporal punishment, and to excommunicate, 
as we have seen. They were also independent one of an- 

1* Ecclesia ; Church Problems, etc. 12. 

15 Life and Times of Jesus, by Dr. A. Edersheim, i, 438. 

ic Bib. Theol. and Eccl. Cycl., Art. Synagogue. 



118 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

other in the management of their affairs. " Each synagogue- 
formed an independent republic, but kept up a regular cor^ 
respondence with other synagogues." ^'' " At Alexandria, 
where the state gave the Jewish colony exceptional privi- 
leges, the separate sjTiagogues seem to have been all subject 
to the ethnarch; but at Rome and elsewhere there are no 
signs of their having been linked together by any stronger 
tie than the fellowship of a common creed and a common 
isolation from the Gentiles." ^^ In so far then as the churches 
were modeled after the synagogue, they were independent 
one of another. 

§ 103. If we turn to the meager record of the churches given 
by the Apostolic Fathers, we find nothing to contradict the in-^ 
dependence of the local churches one of another, but every 
thing to confirm it. " The church of God wliich sojourns at 
Rome," near the close of the first century addressed a letter 
to " the church of God sojourning at Corinth," as one equal 
addresses another equal. In it the church in Corinth is re^ 
proved for deposing " some men of excellent behaviour from 
the ministry." ^^ There is no intimation of redress by appeal 
to any man, church, or synod ; nor is there any assumption 
of authority on the part of the church at Rome to correct the 
wrong. So also when the church at Philippi deposed the 
presbji^er Yalens from the ministry. Poly carp, in his letter to 
the church, approves the act, but grieves for the need of such 
disciplined^ Clement Romanus refers also to majority action 
of a church, and to presbj'ters appointed by the apostles 
" with the consent of the whole Church." ^^ 

Thus the independence of the local churches one of 
another, which is logically deducible as the only normal 
relation of church to church, is confirmed by the uniform 
teachings of the New Testament, the development of the 
churches from the Jewish synagogues, and the intimations, 

" Hist. Christ. Ch., Schaff, i, 458. 20 Ep. Phil. xl. 

" Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs, 59. 21 Ep. i, 44, 54. 

" Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. i, 44. 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHUBCRES. 119 

of the ApostoUc Fathers. Each church, as thus independ- 
ent, completes the disciphne of its members, elects its own 
officers and messengers, and manages its external relations. 
Among themselves all were equal and independent, as the 
towns in a commonwealth. But this independence may be 
conceded, and yet it may at the same time be held that each 
and all, while managing their own affairs as regards one 
another, are still subject to some centralized authority. We 
have therefore a further question to consider before we leave 
the independence of the local churches. 



m. — WEKE THE PRIMITIVE CHURCHES SUBORDINATE TO 
ANY CENTRALIZED ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY? 

This is by no means the same question as that which we 
have been considering. One church may be independent of 
another, or of all others taken singly, and yet be subject 
to them taken collectively, or to an order in the ministry, or 
to a primate, in which case either Presbyterianism, or Epis- 
copacy, or the Papacy follows. 

§ 104. Each church is in spiritual union with all the 
rest in virtue of its being a part of the church-kingdom ; 
and as such is subject to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
however that will may be made known (§ 32: 1). Each 
church in consequence of this spiritual oneness is required to 
exhibit in all suitable waj^s its unity with all others. No 
duty is greater than this ; and for it Christ especially 
prayed (John 17 : 20-23). Hence Christendom has endured 
-manifold tyrannies rather than break the visible unity of 
believers. 

§ 105. While the hahal^ or congregation, of Israel before 
and even in the dispersion was divided up into synagogues 
independent one of another, there was still a central authority 
in the ceremonial law with its priesthood, rites, ritual, and 
ordinances, to which all Jews and full proselytes owed a 



120 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

recognized allegiance. And when the hahal became the 
ecclesia (Matt. 16 ; 18 ; Eph. 5 : 23-27), and the synagogues 
became churches, was there not also a transference of the 
national authority over into an ecumenical power, commis- 
sioned to rule all Christian congregations? If not, some 
reason must be rendered for dropping it. Can we discover 
any reason which shall find its vindication in the facts of 
revelation and of history ? That reason is found, we think, 
in the nature of the ceremonial law which Christ fulfilled 
and abolished, and in the nature of the kingdom of Christ. 

(1) The ceremonial law was largely typical of Christ; 
its priesthood, its sacrifices, its whole economy. Hence it 
could not but pass away when fulfilled. Its one ordained 
place of worship, the temple, was superseded in the Christian 
dispensation (John 4 : 20-24), and the temple predicted to 
be destroyed (Matt. 24 : 2). The whole Mosaic ritual con- 
tained in ordinances was abolished (Eph. 2 : 15 ; Col. 2 : 14, 
20), for there was a change in the priesthood (Heb. 7 : 11, 
12). A new high priest (Heb. 2 : 17, 18 ; 3 : 1 ; 4 : 14) 
offered one sacrifice for eternal salvation (Heb. 7 : 27 ; 9 : 12, 
25, 26) and became thereby the mediator of a better cov- 
enant (Heb. 8 : 6 ; 9 : 11, 12). That whole ceremonial 
order of things was superseded and abolished in Christ, as 
the writer to the Hebrews abundantly demonstrates ; and 
with it went its centralized authority as an organized 
national theocracy. 

(2) So Christ separated his kingdom from the State. 
Church and State were one and the same under Moses ; but 
under Christ they are separate. Christ was emphatic on this 
point, when Pontius Pilate examined him (John 18: 36). 
He refused to meddle in civil and political matters (Luke 12 : 
14 ; John 6 : 15), and distinguished between the two realms 
(Matt. 22 : 21) as did his apostles (Acts 4 : 19, 20 ; 5 : 29 ; 
Rom. 13 : 1-7 ; 1 Peter 2 : 13, 14). 

(3) The church-kingdom, thus stripped both of temporal 
authority and of the ceremonial law with its priesthood and 



INDEPENDENGE OF LOCAL CHUB CHE 8. 121 

sacrifices and ordinances and ritual, appears a better and 
Mgher development than the kahal^ or congregation, of Israel 
fettered with both. One is Hberty; the other is bondage 
(Gal. 5:1). The destruction of these tAvo elements of au- 
thority left the Jcalial^ or congregation, of Israel with only the 
moral and religious institutions of the synagogue — water 
haptism, and what of the sacred Scriptures was not fulfilled 
in Christ; and as such it became the Christian ecclesia, or 
congregation of believers in Jesus Christ, — a church-kingdom 
spiritual, not of this world, whose sole central authority is in 
its Head and King, and whose local churches are independent 
one of another, and of all centralized power, except that 
which is found in Christ Jesus. This is, therefore, the nor- 
mal relation of individual churches to any part of the whole, 
or to the whole body. 

§ 106. Hence the churches of Christ have not been made 
subject to an infallible primate. There is no trace of such 
an order of things in the New Testament. We hunt in vain 
for Scriptural or historical proof that Peter possessed and 
exercised a primacy of authority. Whatever primacy he had 
was of another sort. This is so clearly the case, that Paul, 
not one of the original apostles, but an apostle to the Gen- 
tiles, pubhcly resisted and rebuked Peter, because he was to 
be blamed (Gal. 2 : 11-14). Paul recorded the event, A.D. 
56-58. 

Many passages quoted or referred to by the Papists in the 
Tridentine (1545-1563) and Vatican (1870) decrees are so 
general that they have equal force under all theories of the 
Christian Church. These we have already given (§ 54). 
But there are two passages which need special notice. When 
Andrew brought his brother Simon to the Messiah, Jesus, 
looking upon him for the first time, said : " Thou art Simon 
the son of John : thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by 
interpretation, Peter) " (John 1 : 42). Thus, at the outset, 
Christ, by the change of name, pointed out in the most em- 
phatic way the place Simon Peter should hold in the coming 



122 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

dispensation. This was made more emphatic in the last year 
of his ministry, when in response to a reply of Peter, Jesus 
said : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
church ; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16: 18, 19). This is the text of 
the Papacy. Whatever may be meant by the keys, to bind 
and loose, in this passage, was afterwards conferred in the 
same words upon each local church, however small (Matt. 
18: 18); and after his resurrection, in still stronger lan- 
guage, was conferred upon the whole body of the apostles. 
What was thus distributed could not be claimed by one alone. 
Peter never claimed this power as peculiar to himself. It is 
therefore no proof of his primacy in power. 

What is meant then by the words : " upon this rock I will 
build my church"? We answer: (1) One interpretation 
gives to the words an historical primacy. Peter was the 
first to preach the gospel to the Jews (Acts 2 : 14), and to 
the Gentiles (Acts 10 : 44-48), thus becoming the founda- 
tion of the Church. This is the view of TertuUian, who 
wrote A.D. 192-220.22 (2) Cyprian, A.D. 246-258, uses the 
passage to prove "that the Church is founded upon the 
bishops." 23 (3) Others make the rock Christ himself, since 
" other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3: 11). This was written to 
a church building on men, on Cephas, as one of them, and 
has special weight therefore. This view is held by very emi- 
nent names in the Church. (4) The confession of Peter has 
been regarded by some as the rock ; that is, faithfulness of 
confession. (5) But a certain precedence must be ascribed 
to Peter, which may be called in a modified sense a primacy. 
Peter held a peculiar personal position among the apostles 
and in the building of the church. He was the spokesman 

22 On Modesty, xxi. 23 Ep. xxvi, 1. 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHUBCHES. 123 

of the apostles. God chose him first to preach the gospel, 
after the inauguration of the church-kingdom, to Jews and 
Gentiles. He laid " the foundations of the church deep and 
strong on the Rock of rocks " ; but even here he was not 
as active (1 Cor. 15 ; 10), nor as consistent (Gal. 2 ; 11-14), 
nor wrote as many epistles as Paul. " Nor was Peter himself 
ever bishop of Rome, nor had he any more to do with the 
founding the church at Rome than the apostle Paul " (Meyer). 
His primacy was not that of authority ; for he was brought 
before the church at Jerusalem and the other apostles for 
preaching to Cornelius (Acts 11 : 2-18) ; while in the council 
at Jerusalem, a.d. 50, he did not hold as high a position in 
the settlement of the question had in controversy as James 
(Acts 15 : 19) ; and Paul publicly rebuked him for his con- 
duct (Gal. 2 : 11) and then published the account. He does 
not begin his epistles with the words : " Peter, an apostle of 
Jesus Christ, bishop of bishops ; " but simply : " Peter, an 
apostle of Jesus Christ," and " Simon Peter, a servant and 
apostle." He even calls himself, when speaking to the elders- 
of the churches, " a fellow-elder" (1 Peter 5:1). 

Whatever primacy may be ascribed to Peter, in this sole 
text of the Papacy, it is impossible to find in it the warrant 
for the infallible primacy. It did not give special authority 
to Peter. It did not make him bishop of bishops. It did 
not provide for successors. It did not keep him from error. 
Whatever power it conferred upon him was afterwards given 
to local churches and to the other apostles. There is not the 
least hint of proof that the primitive churches were either 
united in Peter or subordinate to Peter as primate. 

§ 107. The churches of Clnist have not been made sub- 
ject to an episcopate. Their relations to the whole fraternity 
did not culminate in a hierarchy of bishops ; for each local 
church had more than one bishop. There was no union or 
convocation of such bishops, with authority, until the fourth 
century ; that is, not until after the Church was united with 
the State. 



124 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. f 

It is true that tlie churclies were, in some respects, under 
the apostles as the inspired teachers of Christ, to give them 
Loth doctrine and order. Their words were the commands 
of Christ (1 Cor. 14: 37). But the apostolate is not the 
episcopate. We shall see (§ 116) that not one of the charac- 
teristics or signs which distinguished an apostle was trans- 
mitted to successors. After the election of Matthias no 
Yacancy in the apostolate was filled, and the office with its 
functions ceased when John at last fell asleep on the bosom 
of his Beloved. 

But the term apostle was not used exclusively of the 
Twelve, and of Matthias and Paul. The word means " one 
-sent forth," and is applied to Barnabas (Acts 14: 4, 14). 
Hence we are not surprised to read of " apostles " in " The 
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles ; " but there " apostles and 
prophets are described as mere evangelists, or itinerant 
preachers, who were not expected to remain in one place 
more than a single day." ^^ The " Teaching " was written 
about A.D. 100. 

The so-called Council at Jerusalem, A.D. 50, did not repre- 
sent the churches generally by presbyters, bishops, or dele- 
gates except in and through the apostles. And whatever of 
authority its decree possessed was derived from the apostles 
and the claimed inspiration of the Holy Ghost (Acts 15 : 28). 
This council was held for an emergency. The earliest synods 
were held in Asia Minor, but not until the middle of the 
second century.^ The earliest general council was held 
A.D. 325. Previous to this Nicene Council there could have 
been no general Episcopal rule of the churches, taken collec- 
tively. Even Dean Stanley says : " Before the conversion of 
the Empire, bishops and presbyters alike were chosen by the 
whole mass of the people in the parish or diocese (the words 
at that time were almost interchangeable)."^ Episcopacy 
is, then, a late growth. The primitive churches were not 

24 Chap, xi, note on Hitchcock and Brown's ed. 

-25 Hefele's Hist. Councils, i. 2. 26 Christian Institutions, 175. 



INDEFENDENGE OF LOCAL CHUBCEE8. 125 

therefore subject to a convocation of diocesan bishops in synod 
or general council. Had there been such a bond of union, 
we should find traces of it in the seven epistles to the seven 
neighboring churches in the province of Asia, or in some 
other place. 

§ 108. The primitive churches were not united in, and 
subject to, a presbytery or general assembly or ecumenical 
alliance. Each church had its own presbyters, or bishops, 
called a presbytery (1 Tim. 4: 14) (§ 131: 2). But these 
presbyteries were not joined together, with the power of rule, 
into either provincial presbyteries or synods. Not until the 
middle of the second century did synods appear, and not 
until A.D. 325 was there a general assembly. Before these 
periods there was found no way of concentrating the power 
of the keys, so that a larger part could govern a smaller, and 
the whole govern, through authoritative representation, the 
several parts. Indeed, presbyteries or synods did not come 
into being by the exercise of authority ; but, instead, through 
the exercise of fellowship, and their power came from the 
union of Church and State. " Some prominent and influen- 
tial bishop invited a few neighboring communities to confer 
with his own." "Not even the resolutions of the conference 
were binding on a dissentient minority of its members." 
"But no sooner had Christianity been recognized by the 
State than such conferences tended to multiply, to become 
not occasional but ordinary, and to pass resolutions which 
were regarded as binding upon the churches within the 
district from which representatives had come, and the accept- 
ance of which was regarded as a condition of intercommunion 
mth the churches of other provinces. There were strong 
reasons of imperial policy for fostering this tendency." ^" The 
authority of centralized government, even in its mildest form, 
was not known to the primitive churches until after Chiis- 
tianity had been made the state religion. The germs of such 
authority are not Christian, but secular or Mosaic, or both. 

27 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 166-168. 



126 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

The fellowship of the churches is not the mother of hie- 
rarchies or aristocracies. 

§ 109. Hence the independence of the primitive churches 
must be admitted. They were not only free from subjection 
one to another, but free also from all control by external 
presbyteries, councils, bishops, or primates. One church was 
not subject to another church ; nor was any church subject 
to any authority or colitrol, except that of its Lord and Head, 
Jesus Christ. This absolute independence under Christ is 
now generally conceded by church historians. We reproduce 
the e\ddence of a few authorities, none of whom were 
Congregationalists, given elsewhere : ^ 

" Every town congregation of ancient Christianity was 
a church. The constitution of that church was a Congrega- 
tional constitution. In St. Paul's Epistles, in the writings of 
Clement Romanus, of Ignatius, and of Polycarp, the congre- 
gation is the highest organ of the Spirit as well as the power 
of the church." ^9 " Still, each church was an absolutely in- 
dependent community." ^^ "Every church was essentially 
independent of every other." ^^ " The apostles founded 
Christian churches, all based on the same principles, all shar- 
ing common privileges . . . but all quite independent of 
each other." " Nor does Paul even ever hint at any subjec- 
tion of one church to another, singly, or to any number of 
others collectively." ^^ " Neither in the New Testament, nor 
in any ancient document whatever, do we find any tiling re- 
corded from which it might be inferred that any of the minor 
churches were at all dependent on, or looked for direction to, 
those of greater magnitude or consequence ; on the contrary, 
several things occur therein which put it out of all doubt 
that every one of them enjoyed the same rights, and was 
considered as being on a footing of the most perfect equality 
with the rest." ^ " The primitive churches were independent 

28 Pocket Manual, §34. 29 Bunsen's Hyppolytus and his Age, iii, 220. 

30 Milman's Latin Christ, i, 21 . si Waddington's Eccl. Hist. 43. 

82 Whately's Kingdom of Heaven, Essay II, §§20, 136, 137. 
33 Mosheim's Hist. Christ, i, 196. 



IKDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL CHUB C HE S. 127 

iDodies, competent to appoint their own officers, and to admin- 
ister their own government, mthout reference or subordina- 
tion to any central authority or foreign power. No fact 
connected with the history of the primitive churches is more 
fully established or more generally conceded." ^ " The con- 
stitution of the primitive churches was thoroughly demo- 
cratic." ^ " The theory upon which the public worship of 
the primitive churches j)roceeded was that each community 
was complete in itself." " Ever}^ such community seems to 
Tiave had a complete organization, and there is no trace of 
the dependence of an}' one community upon any other." 
" At the beginning of the fourth century . . , the primitive 
type still survived ; the government of the churches was in 
the main a democracy ; at the end of the century the primi- 
tive type had almost disappeared ; the clergy were a separate 
and governing class." " In the first ages of its liistory, while 
on the one hand it was a great and lining faith, so on the 
other hand it was a vast and organized brotherhood. And, 
b)eing a brotherhood, it was a democrac3^" " Its unaccom- 
plished mission is to reconstruct society on the basis of 
brotherhood." ^ We can but add : And, being a brother- 
hood, it will be a democracy. Surely what is so universally 
conceded may be asserted vithout dogmatizing, and may be 
accepted as the controlling factor in a Scriptural church pohty. 
The most recent and thorough inquiries into the organiza- 
tion of the apostolic churches exhibit the "influences from 
club, municipality, and synagogue," in giving form to the 
Christian ecclesia ; but they serve to make even more em- 
phatic the constitutive principle under discussion. Prof. 
Hugh M. Scott, of the Chicago Theological Seminary, in giv- 
ing the results of such inquiries, says: '' Every-where the 
congregation is independent, autonomous, and self-deciding." 
" Whether we accept the details of this discussion or not, 
two things shine forth with greater clearness than ever before : 

3* Coleman's Prim. Christ. 95. ss Ency. Brit. 699. 

•86 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Clihs. 141, 213, 216. 



128 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

an apostolic system, in which every local church was free,, 
self-governed, autonomous, and resting upon a holy brother- 
hood of believers ; and a ministry that was called only of 
God, charismatic, prophetic, and in very few respects resem- 
bling its ordinary modern clerical successor." ^'^ 

§ 110. It is clear, then, that in passing from the hahal of 
the ceremonial dispensation to the ecclesia of the Christian 
dispensation, both the political or civil power and the central- 
ized, ecclesiastical authority were left beliind, as something- 
belonging to the inferior and transient. They do not attach 
to the Church in its last and perfect form on earth. Both 
the temporal power and the government of churches by any 
external human rule are foreign to the gospel. Hence " the 
plan of the apostles seems to have been to establish a great ■ 
number of distinct, independent communities " (Whately). 
"No fact connected with the history of the primitive 
churches is more fully established or more generally con- 
ceded " (Coleman). 

(1) If this principle of the independence of the local 
churches be conceded as an historical fabt, then Congregation- 
alism follows. This must be so (§§ 47, 48), since Congrega- 
tionalism is only the development of this principle into the 
methods of church fellowship. Let the visible manifestation, 
of the church-kingdom in local churches be once controlled 
by this principle, and all government by authority, all cen- 
tralized systems of ecclesiastical power, vanish at once ; but- 
the union of all Christendom in associations of churches 
without authority remains to fulfill the prayer of Christ and. 
to bless the world with liberty and unity. This one principle 
conceded, every thing else follows. 

(2) The only escape is in ecclesiastical rationalism, or in 
an inner light, or in tradition, or in decrees of an infallible 
church; that is, one or more of the other than Scriptural 
standards (§ 87) must be the ground of confidence. The 
competency of the New Testament and of the apostles must. 

3M4 Bib. Sacra, 2:i3, 488. 



INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL C HUB CHE S. 129 

be denied. This is done by the Roman Catholic Church, the 
Greek Church, the controUing part of the Anglican Churchy 
the Quakers, the Socinians, and the Rationalists (§ 87). 
While others declare that " Christ has not definitely specified 
the form of church pohty ; " as though a polity not drawn 
out in detail could not have been determined by revealing its 
constitutive principle. We have shown that a single princi- 
ple dominates each of the four great polities that divide 
Christendom, and that, therefore, no " defuiitely specified 
form of church polity " is needed in order to develop a com- 
plete system. The oak is in the acorn ; and a polity is in its 
constitutive principle. When, therefore, Christ in his church- 
kingdom stripped off the pohtical and hierarchal elements of 
the preceding dispensation, and left the local churches in their 
normal relation to the church-kingdom, of which they are the 
chief manifestations, which relation is that of absolute inde- 
pendence one of another and of any collection of churches, 
he determined definitely what the true development must be 
in all essential elements. This is in harmony with his revela- 
tion of doctrine and ritual for his better dispensation. No 
one would call a man wise who should reject all doctrine or 
should embrace any doctrine because Christ has not definitely 
specified the form of theology to be held by his churches. 
In the old dispensation details were given until it became 
a yoke of bondage. The new and better is for heirs, and so 
gives principles and facts, both in doctrine and in polity, 
which determine what for substance our theology and our 
polity must be. We could not therefore have reasonably 
expected more than we find. 

(3) The Presbyterians are especially firm in their belief in 
the supremacy of the Scriptures, and until recently they have 
claimed Sjjure divino proof of their polity. We have seen 
(§§68: 6; 71: 4) that they are surrendering their claim, 
and introducing foreign elements. If Scripture fail them, as 
it certainly does, and if the independence of the local 
churches be conceded as the original form of the apostolic 
churches, even down to the fourth century, and all tliis is 



130 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

Kjonceded, then their principle of authoritative representa- 
tion will have to be surrendered for that of independence. 
This could easily be effected by carrying the principle of 
the Presbyterian alliance (§ 68 : 6) down to the general 
assemblies, the synods, and the presbyteries. They could re- 
solve their judicatories into assemblies of fellowship, counsel, 
and expression c : opinion. Their votes then would become 
what the votes c:^ the conferences of churches were in the 
early days, down to the union of Church and State in the 
fourth century, without authority to bind the minority of dis- 
sentients. They could retain their beautiful system of fel- 
lowship, and unify it from the top to the bottom on the 
principle of fraternity without authorit}^ 

(4) On the principle, too, of development, which we have 
more than once referred to, the Congregational Theor}^ will 
possess the field. It comes latest as the consummate flower 
of all. True, it is not strictly developed out of any theory 
or theories ; for it was " the plan of the apostles to establish 
a great number of distinct, independent churches ; " but the 
principle then announced and embodied was buried up for 
more than a millennium by adverse theories. Those theories 
did not lie in the Congregational Theory as steps in its devel- 
opment, but they came in through an adverse environment 
to bury the true form. That original form, like a buried seed, 
when the environment had changed, burst forth into life 
amidst persecution and death, with the promise of the future 
in it. The other theories are undergoing testing by the 
Word and by the providence of God. They fail to express 
the brotherhood of the saints in its fullness of liberty. 
Hence they must cease. This expresses brotherhood, and 
hence makes all in the local church equal, makes all local 
churches equal, and issues in popular government and liberty. 
It is able to exhibit the unity of the church-kingdom on prin- 
ciples of fellowship and cooperation, and so to fulfill the 
prayer of the Master that all may be one, that the world may 
believe on him. Thus the glorious end is reached on " the 
plan of the apostles." 



LECTURE VI. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — THE 
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 

'^ And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, 
evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the 
saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body 
of Christ:' — Saint Paul. 

§ 111. The ministry of the Word logically and historic- 
ally comes before the gathering of churches, whose materials 
a,nd relation one to another have been considered. As the 
true religion is not a natural product, but a revelation from 
<jrod, there must be heralds of it divinely fitted, chosen, and 
•commissioned ; and they, in the order of nature, must precede 
the acceptance of that religion. To make the ministry the 
€reature of the churches, or an office relation in the churches, 
is therefore to reverse the order ; it places the agent as the 
product of his own work, the effect before the cause. 
This is the fatal defect of the Pastoral Theory of the 
ministry. That theory makes the ordinary ministry to de- 
pend on there being a church already existing to call and 
ordain a man as pastor, and also on his remaining a pas- 
tor. If he remit his office as pastor he becomes a layman 
again. Thus the ordinary ministry is made one of office, not 
of function and service. Where there are no churches, in 
heathen lands or anywhere else, there can be no ministry ; 
hence on this theory missionaries are laymen until churches 
are gathered to make them ministers. This partial theory 
reverses the order of things, both logically and historically ; 
and hence the churches generally have held the ministry to 
be a function of the church-kingdom for the enlargement of 
itself, endowed, called, commissioned, and sent by the Head 
and King. He takes the initiative in calling men to preach 



132 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

his everlasting gospel, not merely at the outset, in a special 
ministry, but also all the time, in the ordinary ministry of the 
Word. In every case the function of the ministry is before 
the pastoral office. Hence the churches, when gathered, are 
simply to call and ordain whom the Lord has commissioned 
as his ministers. 

Before we consider, therefore, the internal constitution of 
the independent local churches, we will consider the ministry 
of the Word. 

§ 112. The Cliristian ministry is not a priesthood. There 
was a parental priesthood in the patriarchal dispensation, and 
the Aaronic priesthood in the ceremonial dispensation, and 
both priesthoods offered bloody sacrifices. So the Christian 
dispensation has its priesthood, but it is not the ministry of 
the Word. 

(1) A priest is strictly one who offers sacrifices, both ex- 
piatory and eucharistic. This is the use of the word in the 
Scriptures. Presbyter is sometimes shortened into priest, but 
this is a perversion. A priest must have somewhat to offer 
on an altar in worship ; in doing which he stands as mediator 
between God and the worshiper. In the sanctuary and the 
temple, laymen were forbidden to enter even the place where 
the sacrifices were offered. He who served as priest in the 
line of Apcron had to be physically perfect, and was conse- 
crated or ordained to the office, being liimself separated from 
the laity. 

(2) Jesus Christ was a priest, and a high priest, of a new 
order. He is called a " high priest," a " great high priest," 
called of God to be a priest forever, " after the order of Mel- 
chizedek," " another priest," which involves a change of the 
law (Heb. 3: 1; 5:1; 7: 11,12). He offered sacrifice, 
'' one sacrifice for sins for ever," having been " manifested to 
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself " (Heb. 10 : 11, 12 ; 
9 : 26). Then he entered the Holy of holies in the heavens 
(Heb. 6 : 20) ; he " through his own blood, entered in once 
for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp- 



THE MINIS TBY NOT A PBIE8TH00D, 133 

tion " (Heb. 9 : 12), and " sat down on the right hand of the 
throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanc- 
tuary, and of the true tabernacle," " the mediator of a better 
covenant" (Heb. 8: 1, 2, 6). He is the Christian's high 
priest. 

(3) Christ gathered the whole priesthood into himself, and 
so removed it from liis church-kingdom on earth. This is 
argued at length in the Epistle to the Hebrews. " He, be- 
cause he abideth for ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable " 
(Heb. 7 : 24) ; " who needeth not daily, hke those high 
priests, to offer up sacrifices . . . for tliis he did once for 
all, when he offered up himself " (T : 27) ; " but now once at 
the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin 
by the sacrifice of himself" (9: 26). "We have been sancti- 
fied through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once 
for all" (10: 10). "Now where remission of these is, there 
is no more offering for sin " (10 : 18). 

There are, then, no more sacrifices to be offered for sins for- 
ever ; and, if no more sacrifices, there is no further need of 
an earthly priesthood and altar. Christ has gathered into his 
own priesthood the whole priestly office, and then by the one 
sacrifice of himself, " once for all " and " for ever," has pur- 
chased eternal redemption for all that believe in him, and has 
thus abolished altar, sacrifices, and priesthood. 

(4) The church-kingdom on earth has therefore no priest- 
hood or sacrifices or altar. It is an impeachment of Christ's 
one atoning sacrifice on the cross, to substitute a priesthood 
with its altar and sacrifices for the Christian ministry. Yet 
the Council of Trent (1545-1563) decreed that in the mass 
the " same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody 
manner who once offered himself in a bloody manner on the 
altar of the cross ; " and that " this sacrifice is truly propitia- 
tory." 1 " If any one saith that the sacrifice of the mass is 
only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving ; or, that it is 
a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the 

1 On the Mass, chap. ii. 



134 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice ... let him be anath- 
ema." ^ If there be a sacrifice, there must be also a priest- 
hood to offer. Hence the same council decreed that there is, 
in the Christian Church " a new, visible, and external priest- 
hood," for "consecrating, offering, and administering" this, 
sacrifice, with an anathema for all who deny it.^ With this, 
new and external priesthood to offer the sacrifice of the mass>. 
the table becomes a veritable altar. 

The Orthodox Greek Church also holds that the Eucharist., 
is an expiator}^ sacrifice, and the ministry a priesthood.* The 
Old Catholics reject the idea of a sacrifice in the Eucharist,^^ 
and hence of a true priesthood. The Anglican and Episco- 
pal churches reject the idea of a sacrifice in the Lord's Sup- 
per,^ though the ritualists in those churches retain it. The 
Lutherans, in the mother confession of Protestantism, retain 
the name of mass, but deplete it of its sacrificial character."^ 
Other Protestants reject both the name of mass and the idea 
of sacrifice in the communion, hence also the priesthood and. 
the altar. 

No fair interpretation of the New Testament supports the: 
theory of a Christian priesthood, which was introduced from 
the preceding dispensation. Indeed, the only passage that 
looks in a priestly direction by the use of the word " altar " 
(Heb. 13 : 10) refers, as the context shows, to Christ Jesus,, 
who "suffered without the gate," as the sacrifices were, 
"burned without the camp." 

§ 113. The ministry of the Word is a function of the 
church-kingdom. " With the exception of the Quakers and 
Anabaptists, all Christian communities have been agreed in 
this. But a divergence of sentiment has obtained as to the 
relation of the ministerial order to the general body of Chris- 
tians. The Protestants ascribe to that order a distinction 
from other believers, grounded only on the function of their- 

2 Canons on the Mass, iii. ^ On Sacrament of Order, i ; Canons on Order, i., 

* 11 Ency. Brit. 158. ^ Creed, Art. xiv. 

« Creed, art. xxxi. '' Augsburg Conf., part ii, art. xxiv, 3. 



THE MINI8TBY A FUNCTION. 135 

office ; but the Romish Church vindicates for its priesthood 
an indelible character, imparted in ordination, which forever 
separates them from the laity. It sharply opposes the clergy 
as the governing, to the laity as the governed, class." ^ 

(1) This ministerial function is not exclusive. It does not. 
shut out the general body of behevers from active participa- 
tion in church worship. No line of separation is drawn be- 
tween the ministry and the laity, as between the priesthood 
and the people. As in the synagogues every adult male Jew 
could take part in the services,^ so in the primitive churches 
laymen could take part in the worship (1 Cor. 14: 31). 
The function of teaching or preaching, by the Acts, the 
Epistles, and the Apostolical Constitutions, was open to lay- 
men.^^ In this respect all are priests, to offer spiritual sacri- 
fices (1 Peter 2: 5). The ministry is a function of the 
church-kingdom common to all its members, yet specifically 
manifested in the superior fitness of some. 

(2) This ministerial function is prepared and called inta 
service by the Lord Christ. He calls men into his churches 
by his Spirit; and he calls men into the ministry by gifts, 
graces, opportunities, and the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
"No man taketh the honour unto himself, but when he is 
called of God " (Heb. 5 : 4) ; " who also made us sufficient 
as ministers of a new covenant " (2 Cor. 3 : 6) ; " separated 
unto the gospel of God " (Rom. 1:1); and " approved of 
God to be entrusted with the gospel" (1 Thess. 2: 4). 
Hence it can be said: "And he gave some to be apostles; 
and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
and teachers " (Eph. 4 : 11). This divine calling and appoint- 
ment is every-where recognized ; as when Paul addressed the 
Ephesian elders : "Take heed ... to all the flock, in the 
which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops " (Acts 20 : 
28). "Take heed to the ministry wlfich thou hast received, 

8 Winer's Confessions of Christendom, chap, xx, 244. 

9 Schaffs mst. Christ. Ch. i 459. 

10 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 114, 115, 123. 



136 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

of the Lord, that thou fulfil it" (Col. 4: 17). The ministry 
is thus called of God. 

(3) The distinction between the ministry and the laity in 
the churches is due to the suitable recognition of this divine 
call. Those who possess the function of teaching or preach- 
ing will manifest it to the satisfaction of the churches, or 
they will be moved by an inward impulse to seek the work 
and to prepare for it, and such, if they possess the other 
needed qualifications, are set apart to their work with prayer 
and the laying on of hands by the churches. But they are 
not elevated above the laity by any priestly character, nor 
separated from them by any indelible quality ; but they are 
set apart, in the interest of good order, to a special function 
for which God has endowed and called them. The churches 
seek in ordination to recognize the divine call, and by suita- 
ble examination to guard against imposition. 

(4) The ministry of the Word precedes the churches, and 
is, therefore, in some sense independent of the churches. 
The function belongs to the church-kingdom, not to the local 
churches as such. When Christ had winnowed out the 
nucleus of his ecclesia from the kahal of Israel, he chose 
twelve whom he named apostles (Luke 6 : 13), whom he 
trained for the founding of churches. He afterwards sent 
out seventy to preach and prepare the way for himself 
(Luke 10 : 1). These, after the setting up of the church- 
kingdom, went about preaching the Word (Acts 8:4), pre- 
p>aring the material for churches of Christ. And so it has 
ever been, the ministry of the Word has preceded the 
gathering of churches, but has not preceded the church- 
kingdom, of which it is a function. The minister must go 
before the local church, the missionary before the congre- 
gation of believers. The churches are planted through the 
instrumentality of this ministerial function. 

It follows, then, that the ministry is independent of the 
churches in some respects. The churches may not stop one 
called of God to preach the gospel. Their refusal to ordain, 



THE MINISTBY A FUNCTION, 137 

though ordinarily sufficient to silence a man, may for cause 
be disregarded, and should be disregarded, if he has in fact 
been called by the Master to preach the Word. The whole 
question of ordination (§ 121) and of ministerial standing 
(§§ 122-124) respects good order, not the function of the 
ministry. One's right to preach does not depend on the call 
of a local church, or on ordination, or on regular standing, 
but on the commission of Christ, the Head and King. How 
much less then is the ministry an official relation in a local 
church, as was once held by the New England churches.^^ 
This narrow view has been supplanted by the better and 
normal view of the ministry.^^ The churches do not create 
the ministry ; they only recognize it. He whom the Master 
calls is the true minister; but he whom the churches call 
may be still a layman. The power of the keys is for recog- 
nizing the true ministry, and regulating their standing for 
the good of the churches ; but the power to create and 
silence is not theirs, although generally good order requires 
acquiescence in their action. 

(5) The ministry of the Word is not prelatical. A prel- 
ate is a clergyman of a superior order, having authority over 
the lower clergy. It is true that the apostles were em- 
poAvered to plant and order the churches, to appoint, it 
may be, and instruct the ministry; but they by reason of 
death soon ceased. Their function was special and tempo- 
rary. In the permanent ministry there is no superior and 
inferior, higher and lower, in rank or order, but equality in 
function. Christ rebuked the spirit of hierarchy that ap- 
peared among his apostles, and said : " Whosoever would be 
first among you shall be servant of all" (Mark 10: 44). 
" And be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your teacher, and 
all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the 
earth," etc. (Matt 23: 8-12). 

(6) The ministry of the Word appears both as a special 

11 Cambridge Platform, chap, ix, 7. 
" Boston Platform, part iv, i, 1. 



138 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

function and as a permanent function, as occasion demands. 
In the planting and ordering of the churches at the first, in 
inaugurating a new dispensation, extraordinary qualifications 
would be required, with special names, as apostles and 
prophets ; but for the permanent work of the ministry ordi- 
nary qualifications would suffice. Hence the ministry is 
divided, by reason of this difference in quahfication and func- 
tion, into the temporary and the permanent. 

I. — THE TEMPORAKY JVITNTSTRY OE THE WORD. 

§ 114. At the head of the temporary ministry of the Word 
stand the chosen apostles of our Lord. Their number is four- 
teen : the original twelve, Matthias, and Paul. Their name 
signifies " one sent forth, a messenger " ; and consequently it 
is apphed to others, as, " one that is sent " (John 13 : 16), 
messengers (Luke 11 : 49 ; Phil. 2 : 25), false apostles (Eev. 
2: 2), Barnabas (Acts 14: 14), and Christ (Heb. 3: 1). 
The word is used tmce of Simon Peter; fifteen times of 
Paul, and fifty-five times of the apostolate. Out of the 
seventy-eight times used, it is a distinctive title seventy-two 
times of the chosen messengers whom we call apostles. 

§ 115. There were certain special qualifications which 
characterized the apostles and separated them from all 
others in the Christian ministry, which need to be clearly 
detailed : — 

(1) They were personally selected by Christ himself. 
The original Twelve were so selected. " He called his dis- 
ciples : and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named 
apostles" (Luke 6: 13). Li the selection of Matthias, he 
designated by the lot whom he would put into the vacancy 
(Acts 1 : 23-25). He personally appeared to Saul of Tarsus 
when he chose him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 
9: 1-9). Thus each apostle was personally selected in the 
most marked manner, with the exception of Matthias, of 
whom we hear nothing thereafter, save one indirect refer- 
ence (Acts 6 : 2). 



THE TEMPOBABY MINISTBY. 139 

(2) The apostles were personally taught by Christ for 
their ministry. The Twelve were so taught. Matthias was 
selected from those who had been so taught from the bap- 
tism of John (Acts 1 : 21, 22). Paul even was not an excep- 
tion. He had seen the Lord (1 Cor. 9:1). He defended 
his claim to be an apostle on this very ground : " For neither 
did I receive it [the gospel] from man, nor was I taught it,. 
but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ " (Gal. 1 : 
12). "By revelation was made knowTi unto me the mystery,, 
as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye 
can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ "" 
(Eph. 3 : 3, 4). Thus all the apostles were personally taught 
the gospel by Jesus Christ, a qualification insisted on by 
Peter as essential, and by the opponents of Paul. 

(3) They were inspired by the Spirit for their mission* 
They did not plant churches as missionaries now do. They 
were the founders of the first churches, and gave them in 
germ their doctrine and order, creed and polity, and that,, 
too, for all churches in all time. They needed a guidance, 
by inspiration which none others need. They had been, 
promised such inspiration (John 14: 26; 16: 13). Thejr 
were forbidden to begin their work until they had been, 
" clothed with power from on high " (Luke 24 : 49), and 
thus fitted for the proper exercise of the power of the keys^ 
to bind and loose (Matt. 16 : 19) and to forgive and retain 
sins (John 20 : 23) ; that is, to found and order the churches. 
Hence they waited until the outpouring of the Spirit on 
Pentecost, before they made converts, or sought to make 
them. They thereafter claimed inspiration in what they 
said and did in respect to doctrine and order. Hence in 
the decree of the council at Jerusalem (a.d. 50) they claimed 
guidance and inspiration (Acts 15: 28). This inspiration 
seems to have been conceded to all the apostles except Paul,, 
who had to defend his apostleship. He was not singular^ 
when he said : " Which things also we speak, not in words, 
which man's msdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth '* 



140 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(1 Cor. 2 : 13) ; for he thus put his teaching on an equality 
with that of the other apostles. He asserted that what he 
wrote was "the commandment of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14: 37). 
Inspiration was essential to the apostolate. 

(4) The apostles had some special miraculous power. 
Others also had miraculous gifts ; but Paul appealed to the 
working of special miracles in proof of his apostolate, saying, 
" Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in 
all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works" 
(2 Cor. 12: 12). He here appeals to tests which were recog- 
nized as characteristic of the apostles. 

(5) The apostles were clothed with special authority, as 
w^as necessary for the founders of churches, who should give 
them creed and duty and polity. This is involved in their 
inspiration for their work. Yet they exercised the authority 
of discipline through the local churches (1 Cor. 5 : 3-6, 13 ; 
2 Cor. 2 : 6). 

(6) The apostles were equal in rank or order. There was 
great inequality in natural endowments and in labors, but in 
rank or functions there was none. They were brethren. 
When an ambition for place appeared, the Master checked it, 
saying, "Not so shall it be among you" (Matt. 20: 26). 
The primacy of Peter was not in rank or order (§ 106). 
Paul met Peter and James on terms of equality (Gal. 1 : 
18, 19). They "who were of repute imparted nothing" to 
liim (Gal. 2 : 6). There is nothing to indicate that there 
was any inequality in power, rank, or authority among the 
apostles. They were equal. 

§ 116. The apostolic office was temporary. It ceased 
when John fell asleep. We prove this from several con- 
siderations. 

(1) Its special nature proves its temporary nature. The 
-churches could not be founded in doctrine, duty, and polity 
more than once. There has been no addition to the perma- 
nent law of the churches, the New Testament, since John's 
death. As the foundations could not be laid more than 



THE TEMPO BABY MINI8TBT. 141 

once, the apostolate ceased when its function was fulfilled, 
dying when the apostles died. 

(2) The qualifications of the apostolate did not continue. 
Christ might have continued to choose and instruct and 
qualify apostles, as he did Paul, until the end of time : and 
they could have vindicated their claim to be apostles, as Paul 
did his, by inspiration and miracles. But none since the 
days of John, when challenged, can produce the signs of an 
apostle. The term " apostle " was longer retained, " but there 
are many indications that traveling evangelists were thus 
termed for some time after the apostolic age." ^^ These " itine- 
rant preachers " could claim no authority as apostles, as they 
were not expected to remain in one place more than one day. 
If they remained " three days " they are declared to be 
" false." This description proves that the signs of the origi- 
nal apostles were wholly wanting in them. 

(3) The apostles had consequently no successors. No 
vacancies were filled after the election of Matthias ; that is, 
after the inauguration of the church-kingdom at Pentecost. 
James was beheaded a.d. 44. It has been said that " after 
the death of James the elder and James the younger, Paul 
and Barnabas were chosen in their stead, that the collegiate 
number might be preserved." ^* But Paul was called (Acts 
9 : 15) eight years or more before the death of James the 
elder (12 : 2) ; while neither the death of James the younger 
nor the death of Barnabas is known. For aught we know, 
the former may have outlived the latter. But there is no 
evidence that Barnabas was ever an apostle in the strict 
meaning of the word. No vacancies after Pentecost were 
filled. If the office had been deemed permanent and not 
temporary, it is certain the vacancies would have been 
filled, and that the successor of James would probably have 
been recorded. Dean Alford says that " in the New Testa- 
ment no trace of the fiction " of *' successive delegation from 

13 Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, xi, note, Professor Hall. 
" Alzog's Universal Hist, i, 167. 



142 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the apostles " can be f ound.^^ " The fiction of a direct apos- 
tolical succession, verified by historic records, with no gap at 
any point, is now abandoned by most Anglican authorities, 
though long maintained as the only ground on which the 
prelatic polity can stand. More moderate advocates hold 
that such a demonstrated transmission is not essential; that 
the episcopal office justifies itself rather on general grounds 
as an ancient and Biblical institution ; that it has been widely 
and happily recognized during the progress of Christianity ; 
and that, although the polity based upon it may not be the 
only one authorized in Scripture, it is still the polity best 
adapted to secure the interests and advancement of the 
Church." 16 Thus the constitutive principle of Episcopacy 
is yielding its Scriptural and divine claim, and coming down 
into the arena of expediency. Canon Spence says that 
^' when the ' Teaching ' was written, perhaps half a century 
or little more had scarcely passed since the Master had gone 
in and out of earthly homes, and the writing seems to be tell- 
ing of an order once great and powerful in the community, 
but of an order already passing away." " The apostle belougs 
rather to a past state of things." " The apostle of the first 
generation, as we have seen, had no successors." ^^ 

(4) The apostles completed the organization of the primi- 
tive churches. They laid foundations which needed not to 
be relaid. " The autonomy of the early Christian communities 
was complete during the life-time of the apostles, and was 
quite independent of the apostolic office and authority." ^^ 
Thus the truth slowly wins its way. 

§ 117. Next to the apostles stand the prophets in the two 
lists of the Ciiristian ministry (1 Cor. 12: 28; Eph. 4: 11). 

(1) These prophets are to be distinguished from the 
prophets of the Old Testament. The few apostles could not 
be every-where ; and so Christ called into his ministry proph- 
ets to aid the apostles. There can be no doubt as to such a 

15 Com. on John, xx, 23. '" Ecclesiology, Professor Morris, D.D., 129. 

" Excursus on The Teaching, etc. 131, 139, 152. is 5 Ency. Brit. 700. 



THE PEBMAKENT MINISTBY, 143 

ministry, since it is mentioned in the lists, since directions 
are given them how to teach (1 Cor. 14: 29-32), and since 
the churches were founded upon them as upon the apostles 
and Christ : " being built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner 
stone " (Eph. 2 : 20). The prophets here named were not the 
Old Testament prophets, but New Testament prophets, who 
assisted in the planting and instruction of the churches. 

(2) These prophets had the gift of inspired utterance. 
This we have elsewhere shown.^^ Inspiration is inseparable 
from their function. This inspired teaching was common 
under the law, and it was resumed in the early days of the 
>church-kingdom. It was needed in expounding the Script- 
ures, in teaching and in preaching, no less than in fore- 
telling future events. Women sometimes had this gift (Acts 
21: 9). Paul speaks of "the mystery of Christ" which 
" hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets 
in the Spirit " (Eph. 3 : 5). 

(3) The ministry of the prophets was temporary. The 
prophets were not church officers, nor always, if generally, 
elders. Theirs was a function, not an office, which ceased 
when miraculous gifts were withdrawn. Such gifts belonged 
to the childhood of Christianity, to be laid aside at maturity, 
as Paul argues (1 Cor. 13: 8-11). They are referred to in 
the " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " in connection mth 
the apostles, and are " described as mere evangelists, or itine- 
rant preachers," except those who abode with some church ; 
and such were worthy of support. It is a gross perversion 
of Biblical usage to call elders prophets, and preaching 
prophesying. 

II. — THE PERMANENT MINISTRY OF THE WORD. 

§ 118. When we turn from the apostles and the prophets 
to the permanent ministry, we find that different names are 
employed in the New Testament to designate it. Those 

19 27 Bib. Sacra, 343^47. 



144 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

called to this ministry are named evangelists, presbyters or 
elders, bishops, teachers, pastors, leaders or chiefs, and 
possibly angels — all different names for the same ministry 
in the same or different relations. This will appear as we 
proceed. 

(1) Teachers are mentioned last in the lists of the per- 
manent ministry. We may reduce the three lists to the fol- 
lowing table : — 

Acts 13 : 1, A.D. 45, Prophets, Teachers. 
1 Cor. 12 : 28, a.d. 58, Apostles, Prophets, Teachers. 
Eph. 4: 11, A.D. 61, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, 

Pastors, and Teachers. 

To the list in 1 Cor. 12 : 28, there is appended an enumera- 
tion of the miraculous gifts, which added much to the success 
of the ministry of the Word, such as " miracles, then gifts of 
healings, helps, governments, kind of tongues." 

The word translated " teachers " is applied to Jewish 
rabbis and lawyers, to John the Baptist, to Paul, and to 
Jesus. It is conjoined with pastors in the latest and fullest 
list as identical with them. In the first and second lists the 
word designates the uninspired ministry in a church, which 
the third and fullest list calls "evangelists, pastors, and 
teachers." They are designated elders or presbyters and. 
bishops in other places. Pastors, bishops, evangelists, and 
many elders were all teachers, but it does not follow that all 
teachers were pastors, bishops, evangelists, or elders. Teach- 
ers we may regard as belonging to the class of elders, of 
which some were teaching, and others were ruling, elders 
(ITim. 5: 17). 

(2) Evangelists were probably itinerant elders or missiona- 
ries. Philip is called " the evangelist " (Acts 21 : 8), and 
Timothy is exhorted to " do the work of an evangelist," and 
so to fulfill his ministry (2 Tim. 4:5); showing that the 
work of this class of laborers was well known. The word 
means " a messenger of good tidings " — a missionary. Any 



THE PERMANENT MINI8TMT, 145 

elder could do the work of an evangelist at times, and return 
to the pastorate again. The evangelists did not form a dis- 
tinct class or order in the ministry. They discharged a 
function of the ministry which changes with the need of 
itinerant and missionary labor. 

(3) The word translated elders or presbyters signifies an 
older person, a senior, the aged, and was used as a title of 
dignity. It is found sixty-six times in the New Testament : of 
rulers in the Sanhedrin and in the synagogue, of the ministry 
in the churches, and of the dignities around the throne of 
God. The name is one of dignity, and is used of ministers 
in Christian churches (Acts 11 : 30 ; 14 : 23 ; 20 : 17), who 
are often joined with the apostles as the recognized ministry. 

(4) The word translated bishop occurs but five times, once 
of Christ as the Bishop of souls (1 Peter 2 : 25), and four 
times of ministers (Acts 20 : 28 ; Pliil. 1 : 1 ; 1 Tim. 3:2; 
Tit. 1:7). It means " an overseer, watcher, guardian, super- 
intendent." In ci^dl matters bishops were " magistrates sent 
out to tributary cities to organize and govern them." This- 
title " pointed to the office on the side of its duties." ^ 

The words " elders " and " bishops " are applied in the New 
Testament to the same persons. Thus the elders of the 
church at Ephesus (Acts 20 : 17) are called bishops in that 
church (Acts 20: 28). Five years later, in A.D. 65, Paul 
calls elders bishops (1 Tim. 3: 2; 5: 1; Tit. 1: 5, 7). 
Elders Avere bishops, and bishops were elders, in the apostohc 
churches. "Even Jerome, Augustine, Urban II (pope, a. 
1091), and Petrus Lombardus admit that originally the twa 
had been identical. It was reserved for the Council of Trent 
(A.D. 1545-1563) to convert this truth into a heresy." ^i 
' Their identity the weight of evidence has rendered practi- 
cally indisputable." 22 "This subject then may be regarded 
as finally settled among scholars." ^^ 

(5) The tenderest word by wliich the permanent ministry 

20 Bishop Ellicott on 1 Tim. 3 : 1-7. 21 Kurtz's Hist. Christ. Ch. 69, 70. 

22 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 38. 23 Schaffs Hist. Christ. Ch. i, 494, note. 



146 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

is designated is pastor, shepherd. Jesus is called Shepherd 
(John 10 : 14 ; Heb. 13 : 20), and Peter was commanded to 
feed the lambs and tend and feed the sheep of the Good 
Shepherd's flock (Jolni 21 : 15-17). Bishops or elders are to 
act the Oriental shepherd, leading the flock, carrying the 
Jambs in their bosom, giving their lives for the sheep, not 
lording it over them (1 Peter 5: 3). Pastors are the same 
as elders and bishops. 

(6) Rulers in the churches are referred to in such passages 
as : " He that ruleth, with diligence " (Rom. 12 : 8) ; " the 
elders that rule well " (1 Tim. 5 : 17) ; " and are over you in 
the Lord, and admonish you " (1 Thess. 5 : 12). These rulers 
were the elders or bishops (1 Tim. 3:4). 

(7) Another word for rule is sometimes employed, which 
means leaders, chiefs ; as, " Obey them that have the rule 
over you" (Heb. 13: 7, 17, 24). The passages designate 
elders or bishops. 

These, we tliink, are all the titles appHed to the permanent 
ministry of the Word ; and of this list, excluding evangehsts 
and teachers, it has been said by the Encyclopaedia Bri- 
tannica : '' All these names are used evidently to express the 
same kind of officers, for they are continually used inter- 
changeably the one for the other." ^ 

(8) The angels of the seven churches mentioned in the 
second and third chapters of Revelation held an unknown 
position. Robinson regards them as " prophets or pastors " ; 
Stuart, as " the leading teacher or religious instructor " ; 
Yitringa, as " the superintendent and leader of the worship " ; 
Ewald, as " a kind of clerk, secretary, and sexton " ; Alford 
and Cowles, as " angels " ; Barnes, as " pastors " ; DoUinger, 
as "the episcopate"; Trench, as "diocesan bishops." The 
meaning is doubtful. That they were not in any proper 
sense "diocesan bishops" seems clear from the facts that 
each of the seven churches had its angel ; that the churches 
were near together, so near that the whole seven would not 

24 Vol. V, 699. 



qUALIFICATIOXS OF THE MINISTBY. 147 

■constitute a single diocese, unless " a church and a diocese '* 
were " for a considerable time co-extensive and identical " ; ^ 
that the New Testament and early church history know 
nothing of diocesan bishops, as bishops and elders and pas- 
tors were identically the same at that time ; and that each 
church as well as angel is addressed as an independent body, 
free from subordination to a bishop or other authority except 
Christ. The change from the singular to the plural number 
in these letters shows that the church is addressed through 
its angel, just as each one of the six hundred and ninety 
bishoprics in North Africa,^^ a little later, might have been 
addressed through its pastor. Besides, each letter closes 
with the injunction : " He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith unto the churches," not " unto the dio- 
cesan bishops." 

§ 119. As the apostles had special qualifications for their 
calling, so it might naturally be expected that the permanent 
ministry would be distinguished from the membership gener- 
ally, and from other officers in particular, by certain perma- 
nent requisites for their official work. Though every adult 
male could take part in the public services, as every adult 
male Jew could officiate in the synagogue, still not every 
such church member was fit for a bishop or elder or pastor, 
or even deacon. Hence, to guide in the selection of this 
ministry certain qualifications are made requisite for the 
office of a bishop or elder or pastor. As the list of require- 
ments is sometimes forgotten, we mil give it under appropri- 
ate heads. 

(1) Personal character stands first. A minister must be 
sober, of good behavior, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, not 
soon angry, no brawler, no striker, gentle, not self-willed, not 
contentious, no lover of money, but a lover of good men, 
meek, just, holy. He must flee youthful lusts, and follow 
righteousness, faith, love, and peace ; not lording it over the 

25 Archbishop Whately's King. Christ. Essay, ii, § 20. 

26 The Church, by Prof. H. Harvey, d.d., 103. 



148 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

charge allotted to him, but making himself an example unto 
the flock (1 Tim. 3 : 2 ; 2 Tim. 2, 22 ; Titus 1 : 5, 6 ; 1 Peter 
5: 3). 

(2) Then comes personal reputation. The ministry of the 
Word must be without reproach, must have a good testimony 
from them which are without, and must be blameless (1 Tim. 
3 : 2, 7 ; Titus 1 : 6). 

(3) Nor are the domestic relations overlooked. The min- 
ister should be married, the husband of one wife, one that 
ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection 
with all gravity ; (but if a man knoweth not how to rule his 
own house, how shall he take care of the house of God ? ) ; 
given to hospitality (1 Tim. 3 : 2-5). Celibacy is not then 
a qualification for the ministry, not even for an apostle, or 
the first of the so-called popes (1 Cor. 9:5). 

(4) Natural and spiritual gifts are needed. Ministers 
must be apt to teach, able to teach others, in meekness cor- 
recting them that oppose themselves ; capable of discerning 
foolish and ignorant questionings, and of speaking the things 
which befit the sound doctrine, able also both to exhort 
in the sound doctrine ; and to convict the gainsayers ; to 
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teach- 
ing; tending the flock of God (1 Tim. 3: 2; 2 Tim. 2: 2, 
23,25; 4: 2; Titus 1 : 9; 2: 1; 1 Peter 4: 11; 5: 2). 

(5) In this day of lay and boy preachers, we need to 
recall the preparation and study required for the ministry of 
the Word. The minister must not be a novice, lest being 
puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. He 
must study that he may hold the faithful Word which is ac- 
cording to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort 
in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers. Hence 
he is required not to neglect the gift that is in him, but in- 
stead to give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. 
He must be diligent in these things ; to give himseK wholly 
to them. He must take heed both to himself and to his 
teaching (1 Tim. 3 : 6 ; 4 : 14, 15, 16 ; Titus 1 : 9). 



OBDINATION. 149 

(6) He is to be an example to his people ; in all things 
showing himself an example of good works ; in his doctrine 
showing uncorruptness, gravity, sound speech, that can not 
be condemned. His conduct and words are to be such that 
no man can despise him, being an example to them that be- 
lieve, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity 
(Titus 2: 7,8; ITim. 4: 12). 

With these qualifications for the ministry in mind, it may be 
said of an elder or pastor or bishop, that " no man taketh the 
honour unto himself, but when he is called of God, even as 
was Aaron " (Heb. 5:4). Though this ministry is a function 
of the church-kingdom, for the building up of the body of 
Christ (Eph. 4 : 12), not all in that kingdom are qualified 
for it ; and not all who may desire to enter it may have been 
called unto it. The giving in detail of the qualifications im- 
plies some right and power of enforcing them upon aspirants 
for the ministry; and out of this right and power comes 
ordination. 

ni. — ORDINATION. 

§ 120. The permanent ministry needed some provision 
for its perpetuity, as its function is permanent. Christ called 
and quahfied the temporary ministry. He in a formal man- 
ner selected the Twelve, whom he named apostles (Luke 6 : 
13). He designated the seventy, whom he sent out two by 
two (Luke 10 : 1). When the church-kingdom was set up, 
" he gave some to be . . . evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of 
ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ : till 
we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowl- 
edge of the Son of God" (Eph. 4: 11-13). As the apos- 
tolate and the prophetic function were soon to cease, there 
was need of establishing by suitable recognition the permanent 
ministry. Hence the apostles superintended the election of, 
if indeed they did not appoint, elders in every church (Acts 
14: 23). Paul exhorted Timothy to lay hands hastily on no 



150 THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

man (1 Tim. 5 : 22), but commanded him to commit the gos- 
pel " to faithful men " who should be " able to teach others 
also" (2 Tim. 2: 2). He left Titus in Crete, "to appoint, 
elders in every city " (Titus 1:5). And Clement Romanus, 
who was contemporary with the apostles, says : " They [the 
apostles] appointed those [to be presbyters] already men- 
tioned, and afterwards gave instructions that when these 
should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them 
in their ministry." ^7 Thus the ministry has been continued 
to the present time ; but how were '' other approved men " to- 
be designated for the ministry when qualified by the Christ ? 
How was the needed testing of the qualifications to be 
made? 

§ 121. The recognition of the ministry is made in ordina- 
tion, which is a formal inquiry and setting apart to the work. 
The inquiry respects the qualifications, and consequent fit- 
ness or unfitness, of the candidate, as called of God for the. 
ministry; and the setting apart is an ecclesiastical act or 
ceremony formally recognizing him as called of God to be 
a minister. 

(1) We should expect to find some setting apart of men 
to so important and responsible a ministry. It would not 
only be natural, but expected, since the priests under the- 
ceremonial dispensation were consecrated to their holy office^ 
by solemn and elaborate ceremonies. They were anointed 
and consecrated during seven days, and the ordination sepa- 
rated the priests from the people. None others than the un- 
blemished (Lev. 21 : 16-24) and the consecrated could serve 
at the altar (Ex. 28: 41; 29). In addition, "there was. 
regular ordination to the ofiice of rabbi, elder, and judge" 
among the Jews, with " the imposition of hands." ^ 

(2) The ordination of the New Testament was by the 
laying on of hands and prayer. The words translated to 
ordain, in the Authorized Version, are reduced from the pre- 
latical sense into simply, " to become," or " to appoint," by 

27 Ep. Cor. i, ch. xliv. ^s Eclersheim's Life and Times of Jesus, ii, 382.. 



OBDINATION. 151 

the revision. The seven almoners were set apart by the 
laying on of hands and prayer (Acts 6 : 6). Paul and 
Barnabas were consecrated in a similar manner as foreign 
missionaries (Acts 13: 3). Timothy was thus ordained by 
the presbytery of a local church, assisted by Paul (1 Tim» 
4: 14; 2Tim. 1: 6). 

But imposition of hands was had in cases of converts- 
(Acts 8: 17; 9: 12,17); and in cases of ordination, "the 
rite was not universal; it is impossible that, if it was not 
universal, it can have been regarded as essential." ^ In later 
times, " the form of ordination or consecration varied. In 
the Alexandrian and Abyssinian churches it was, and still 
is, by breathing ; in the Eastern Church generally by lifting^ 
up the hands in the ancient Oriental attitude of benediction ; 
in the Armenian Church, as also at times in the Alexandrian. 
Church, by the dead hand of the predecessor ; in the earlj 
Celtic Church, by the transmission of relics or pastoral staff ; 
in the Latin Church by the form of touching the head, 
which has been adopted from it by all Protestant Churches. 
No one form was universal ; no written formula of ordina- 
tion exists." ^ 

(3) The significance of ordination depends upon the 
theory of the ministry held. If the Christian minis tr}^ were 
a priesthood, as it is not (§ 112), then ordination would be. 
essential to the work of the ministry, and especially to 
the administration of the sacraments. But since the func- 
tion of preaching was opened to laymen, ordination put no 
gulf between the ministry and the laity, but was only an 
ecclesiastical recognition of the divine call to the ministry. 
Christ calls men to be his ambassadors, but they stand to his. 
churches in relations of vital moment, which require that his 
call be recognized, not ratified, but ascertained and recog- 
nized. " The conception of ordination, so far as we can 
gather either from the words which are used to designate it^ 

29 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 131. 
20 Dean Stanley's Christ. Institutions, 175. 



152 THE CHUBCH-KmaDOM. 

or from the elements which entered into it, was that simply 
of appointment and admission to office." "It can hardly be 
maintained upon this evidence that the ceremony of im- 
position of hands establishes a presumption, which is clearly 
not established by the other elements of ordination, that 
ordination was conceived in early, as it undoubtedly was 
conceived in later, times as conferring special and exclusive 
spiritual powers." ^^ 

(•i) Ordination is the ecclesiastical recognition of the 
ministerial function of the church-kingdom as that function 
appears in individuals called by Jesus Christ to preach the 
Word. It is not therefore primarily and fundamentally an 
inauguration into the pastoral office, as the New England 
fathers made it,^^ but into the ministry of the Word.^^ The 
function is wider than the pastoral office ; it includes as well 
all evangelistic and missionary labors ; and so ordination is 
to the ministry, which is as wide in its scope as the wants of 
the church and the work of Christ. 

(5) Ordination is to be performed by the churches. The 
apostles, as we have seen (§ 115), had the power of the keys; 
they might therefore set men apart in ordination to the min- 
istry. But the permanent power of the keys was committed 
to local churches (§§ 99, 109). They had power to prove 
the spirits, whether they were of God (1 John 4 : 1) ; to try 
them who called themselves apostles, and they exercised 
their power in this respect (Rev. 2:2); and to set apart by 
the laying on of hands and prayer (Acts 13 : 3 ; 1 Tim. 4 : 
14). A Baptist writer goes so far as to say : " The ministry 
alone confer ordination : in these examples (Acts 6 : 6 ; 13 : 
1-3 ; 1 Tim. 4 : 14), apostles, presbyters, and evangelists ap- 
pear as officiating, but in no instance unordained persons." ^ 
But, in this case, if ordination be necessary to an orderly 
ministry, then the ministry have the sole right and power of 
opening and shutting the door to a recognized ministry ; and 

31 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 130, 132. S2 Cambridge Plat. chap, ix, § 2. 

33 Boston Plat, part iv, chap, i, § 1. "'4 Harvey's The Church, 84. 



OBDINATLON. 153 

there results a clerical rule in the churches. We sympathize 
with our ecclesiastical fathers when they repudiated this 
€lerical ordination. "In general, the ordination of ministers 
was by the imposition of the hands of their brethren in the 
ministry; but some churches, perhaps to preserve a more 
perfect independency, called for the aid of no ministers of 
any other churches, but ordained their ministers by the im- 
position of the hands of some of their own brethren." ^^ 
This was sometimes regarded as irregular.^^ But it rests on 
sound principles. There is no priestly or clerical rule in 
Christian churches. The body that could "prove the 
spirits," and try false apostles, and elect its officers, and had 
the keys of discipline, could recognize those whom the Mas- 
ter sent it as under-shepherds by prayer and the laying on 
of hands. This is confirmed by the action of the Corinthian 
church in removing men from the ministry .3'' 

The local churches are the only organs of the Spirit pro- 
vided for this work of ordination. The church-kingdom 
chiefly manifests itself in and through them. They are the 
normal repositories of ecclesiastical power, and the only 
bodies on which such power was conferred for all time. 
They are chiefly affected by the ministry, and have conse- 
quently the highest reasons for keeping out of the ministry 
all whom the Lord has not qualified and called. Their 
conceded independence (§ 109) involves the right and power 
of ordination. 

(6) There is no peculiar right or authority conferred by 
ordination. Ordination does not set the ministry over the 
churches ; it does not end logically or in fact in ministerial 
rule. No man ordained to the ministry can invade a church 
to govern it ; nor can he unite with others so ordained to 
form a presbytery to rule it. This ordination is the recogni- 
tion of those whom Christ has called to the ministry ; but 
a man so ordained must be called to the pastorate (§ 131 : 1) 

- 35 Hutchinson's ffist. Mass. i, 374, ^ Felt's Eccl. Hist, ii, 267. 

37 Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. chap. xliv. 



154 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

by the vote of a church before he can ha^e any authority 
therein, except as a layman in the church of which he is 
a member. His position as pastor is distinct from the recog- 
nition of his divine call as a minister. He may be a minis- 
ter and not a church officer. And his ordination to the 
ministry gives him no authority whatever over or in local 
churches. 

IV. — MINISTEEIAL STANDING. 

§ 122. The ordination of ministers places them in a pecul- 
iar relation to the churches. Those ordained may or may 
not be officers in a local church, but whether officers therein 
or not, they by reason of their recognized ministerial call 
stand as ministers of the Word, and are treated as such in 
all communions. We call their peculiar relation to the 
churches muiisterial standing. And we mean by it a minis- 
ter's responsible relation to, and connection with, some associ- 
ation of churches which may vouch for him and call him to 
account for heresy or immorality. If true ministers at all, 
they are called to exercise their function in subordination to 
the chui^ch-kingdom, which chiefly appears in the world in 
and through churches. Their belief and conduct vitally 
affect these churches. The needed qualifications by which 
to test them have been given not merely for their guidance, 
but for the guidance of the churches in ordaining them and 
dealing with them. They, if church officers, are more than 
church officers. They owe in fellowship accountability to 
the churches that recognize them as ministers of the Word. 
If the Ephesian church could commend by letter ApoUos to 
the disciples in Achaia (Acts 18 : 27) ; and if the council of 
Jerusalem could notify the churches that the Judaizers who 
disturbed their peace were not officially sent forth (Acts 15 : 
24), we may well assume that the relation of recognized 
ministers to the churches forms a broad and sure basis for 
their accountability to the churches. As the churches can 



MimSTEBIAL STANDING. 155 

not create ministers, but only recognize those called by the 
Great Head of the Church to be ministers, so they may not 
uncreate ministers, but only withdraw from the unworthy 
the recognition which they had given in ordination. They 
may cast the unworthy out of their fellowship, or more for- 
mally take away the endorsement already given them in 
ordination ; that is, depose them ; and all this in the exercise 
of their authority to do the things that make for purity and 
peace. Fellowship requires association, and churches associ- 
ated may, in the exercise of a common and universal right,, 
keep themselves free from unworthy ministers. 

If this right of self-protection exists in neighboring 
churches in virtue of their common union in the church- 
kingdom, it may be exercised in any way suitable to the 
independence of said churches one of another. The way 
that is simplest, completest, and safest is best. If that way 
be by occasional councils or by stated associations, the prin- 
ciple is the same. Which is the better way, we will con- 
sider hereafter (§§ 204, 209). We here afBrm that if the 
churches can call the ministry to account by councils, they 
can by associations of churches. Both ways recognize an 
accountable relation of the ministry to the churches, and 
hence ministerial standing. 

§ 123. This ministerial standing is so natural that all 
communions require it. Each of the great polities, and all 
combinations of them, where the ministerial function is 
recognized at all, have ways of making the ministry respon- 
sible, either to itself or to the churches. The General 
Association (ministerial) of Connecticut, in 1813, by vote 
affirmed that ministers, whether pastors or not, are amenable 
to the ministerial association to which they belong.^ And 
the Supreme Court of Vermont, in an elaborate decision 
given in 1879, have held the same.^ Out of New England 
and in all foreign countries, we have elsewhere shown ^ that 

38 9 Cong. Quart. 194; Contrib. Eccl. Hist. Ct. 328. 

39 Shiirtleff V. Stevens, 51 Vt. 501 ; 31 Am. Repts. 704. *» 43 Bib. Sacra, 417, 420. 



156 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

ministerial standing is held among Congregationalists in asso- 
ciations of churches. The General Association of the Con- 
gregational churches and ministers of Michigan, in May, 
1880, by unanimous vote adopted the following as expressive 
of the past history of those churches nearly from the begin- 
ning, namely : " By ' ministerial standing ' this association 
understands such membership in some local conference or 
association as makes the said body responsible for ministers 
connected with it ; that is, the conference or association 
receives its ministerial members on credentials by vote, may 
arraign, try, and expel them for cause, or dismiss them to 
corresponding bodies on their own request."*^ 

In the leading colonies of New England the State and 
Church were at first one, and the Legislature was a general 
association of the churches, possessing civil and ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction. The General Court of Massachusetts, in 1653, 
ordered that no one should be "allowed to preach without 
the approbation of the elders of the four churches next to 
the place where he may be employed, or by the court of the 
county in which it is located;" and "that no man be or- 
dained ... an elder, unless timely notice thereof is given 
to three or four neighboring churches, so that they may 
ascertain whether they can approve of him."^ Similar 
things were done in Connecticut, even down to the middle 
of the last century.*^ Their Legislatures were stated assem- 
blages of the churches for ecclesiastical as well as civil mat- 
ters, and exercised most rigorous authority over churches 
and ministers.*^ Thus this accountability of the ministry to 
the churches or to itself has every-where been asserted and 
exercised. A call to preach the everlasting gospel does not 
lift one out of responsible connection with the churches. It 
is only when the churches forbid him to fulfill his divine call- 
ing that he can rightly assert his higher commission. He is 

41 Minutes Gen. Ass. Mich. 1880, 20. 

« Felt's Eccl. Hist, ii, 95, 198. 

*3 Ibid. 267, 268 ; The New Englander for 1883, 472. 

•*4 Cases cited in The New Englander, 1883, 468-473. 



MINI8TEBIAL STANDING. 157 

required to have a good testimony from them that are with- 
out, and certainly much more is he required to have the con- 
fidence and testimony of those that are within, which is 
expressed in the term ministerial standing. 

§ 124. There being such a thing as ministerial standing in 
all communions, where is it properly lodged ? This question 
will be answered according to the polity held, and we answer 
it according to the principles of Congregationalism. 

(1) It is not the part of the civil power to recognize the 
call of men to the ministry, and so either to ordain them or 
to authorize them to preach and call them to account, as did 
the courts of the New England colonies. Christ separated 
the Christian Church and the local churches from the State 
(§ 225), and so took from the magistrates all questions 
ecclesiastical. 

(2) Ministerial standing can not be held in local churches. 
If the ministerial function were confined to the pastoral rela- 
tion, and a man ceased to be a minister the moment he ceased 
to be pastor, — which some have held to be " the necessary 
verdict of the principles of Congregationalism,"*^ — then 
ministerial standing would be held in local churches, since 
a vote to remove a pastor from office would be his deposition 
from the ministry; and besides, he, while pastor of one 
church, would be a layman every-where beyond that church. 
But this theory of the ministry was not embraced by the 
English or other Congregationalists, and soon ceased to be 
held in New England.^ In answer to the seventh point 
raised by the ministers of Old England, the ministers of 
New England, about 1638, held that a church might depose 
from his office an unfit or unworthy pastor ; but if one should 
be set aside without sufficient cause, he would still remain a 
minister of Christ.*^ This answer rests on the fact of a 
ministerial function wider than the pastorate, to which Christ 
calls men. But no sooner was such a position taken than the 

*5 Congregationalism, Dr. H. M. Dexter, 150. 

46 Mather's Magnolia, ii, 230. *' Felt's Eccl. Hist, i, 368. 



158 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

ministerial standing of the ordained passed beyond the con- 
trol of the local church to give or take away. Other churches 
recognized the pastor as a minister of the Word, and his re- 
sponsibility to his own church was not a sufficient guard of 
purity. Thus a minister is more than a pastor and church 
member. He is regarded as a minister by the churches gen- 
erally, and treated in all repects as a minister. If he prove 
unworthy, air other churches are compromised. If his clmrch 
call him to account, all other churches in the neighborhood 
are not only interested but also involved in the result. If 
his church neglect to call him to account, other churches can 
not clear themselves of responsibility on the plea that it con- 
cerns that church alone, as under the Pastoral Theory ; but 
they must themselves proceed to take action in the case. 
The National Council, in 1880, after a discussion of ministe- 
rial standing, with only one dissentient vote, declared "that 
the body of churches in any locality have the inalienable 
right of extending ministerial fellowship to, or withholding 
fellowship from, an}^ person within their bounds, no matter 
what Ms relations may be in church membership or ecclesias- 
tical affiliations." ^^ His ministerial standing can not therefore 
be in the local church. 

(3) Nor can it be held in a council of churches. The 
churches may by a council or otherwise ascertain the call 
and qualifications of a man for the ministry, and so ordain 
him. But the council on adjournment ceases to exist. It 
can not be re-assembled. If all its members be summoned 
again in council, it is a new body. Such an occasional council 
can not, in the nature of things, hold the ministerial standing 
of those it ordains. A dead body can not call to account the 
living. 

(4) The unassociated churches in any locality are not the 
best depository of ministerial standing. If a minister within 
their bounds is amenable to them as a body, it is to tlie whole 
body, not to a part of the whole, and any council that might 

48 Minutes, 17. 



MINI8TEBIAL STANDING. 159 

be called to deal with him should include the whole body, 
not a part of the whole, or any beyond its bounds. If his 
standing lies around among them as unorganized, which one 
shall begin the process of dealing with him ? What is every 
body's business is nobody's. And if he be a pastor of a 
church, and that church neglect to call him to account, what 
church will undertake to discipline a sister church's pastor ? 
It is true, we have a way of dealing with such a church for 
not doing its duty ; ^^ which is really a way for punishing a 
church for being deceived by an impostor instead of punish- 
ing the impostor that deceives it. But this way has never 
worked well, and is such a roundabout way of reaching an 
unworthy minister that it probably will never be tried again. 
If, then, the standing of a minister be held in an unorganized 
body of churches, it is not the best place to hold it, because 
(a) his standing is then an undefined quantity ; (6) no body 
is burdened with the special duty of calling him to account 
for heresy or immorality ; (c) the parties to the process 
may limit the council to a part of the whole body of churches 
in the locality; (d) the minister, if condemned, may call 
another council of other churches from the same locality or 
from beyond that locality; (e) in any case the council is 
selected, if not picked ; (/) the conflict and confusion thus 
resulting have discredited councils, and must ever make 
reliance on them both uncertain and unwise, especially since 
railroads have rendered all churches accessible. 

(5) Ministerial standing ought not to be held in ministe- 
rial associations, since that takes it away from the churches 
and puts it into the hands of the ministry. The churches 
might still by council ordain and depose, but that would in- 
volve a double accountability that might easily end in a con- 
flict of authority. The association might retain as member 
and so give standing to a minister whom the churches by 
council have deposed. At any rate ministers ought not to 
be accountable only to ministers. The opposition to such 

49 Cambridge Plat. chap, xv, 2 (3) ; Boston Plat, part ill, ch. i, 2 (8). 



160 THE CHUECH- KINGDOM. 

standing in ministerial associations is well founded and will 
ultimately prevail. 

(6) The only adequate and proper depository of ministe- 
rial standing is associations of clinrclies. They meet statedly, 
have well defined boundaries, keep permanent records, and 
are themselves accountable. If a council commit a mistake 
or do wrong, it can not redress it after adjournment, and all 
responsibihty is precluded by the dissolution of the council 
into its individual elements ; but if an association of churches 
do wrong or make a mistake, it exists to feel its responsi- 
bility, to correct it and record the correction. These associa- 
tions embrace the churches of their respective localities, and 
act in the exercise of their '" inalienable right " in ginning or 
withholding fellowship. They are not picked or packed 
bodies. They have also, tlirough proper committees, time 
to inquire fulty, and under favorable conditions, into a 
minister's character and record,, which a council of churches 
has not. They can watch over and admonish him ; but, in 
the end, they can arraign, try, and expel him for cause ; thejr 
can join with him in case of grievance in calling a mutual 
council to review the whole case, and to accredit or depose- 
him; they can redress an injury, restore the expelled on 
penitence or justification: they can do all these in the exer- 
cise of their "inalienable right," without infringing upon the 
liberties of any church, in the conceded right of self-protec- 
tion. They are therefore adequate, and the only bodies that 
are adequate, for the holding of ministerial standmg. To go 
beyond these would be to introduce the elements of some- 
foreign polity. 

(7) Such standing in associations of churches with a]Dpeal 
in case of grievance to a mutual council chosen from beyond 
the bounds of the association acting in the case, is safe and 
essential. There is not an element of Presbyterianism in it.^ 
Councils guard only one third of our ministry in active ser- 
vice, and less than one fourth of the whole Congregational 

^f Pocket Maiujjil, § f4; The New Englander, 1883, 487. 



MINIS TEBIAL STANDING. 161 

ministry in the United States, and very few indeed elsewhere. 
And yet the Supreme Court of Vermont but expressed the 
common sense of Christendom as to ministerial accountable 
standing, when it said : " If it be suspected that a wolf in 
sheep's clothing has invaded their ranks, it is not only for 
the interest of all the members of the association to know 
the fact, but it is their imperative duty to make inquiry and 
ascertain the fact." For the association has "the rightful 
jurisdiction to iuA^estigate charges of unministerial conduct 
affecting its members, and on con^dction to administer proper 
punishment." ^^ The case was that of a minister suspended 
from membership and published in the papers as unworthy^ 
without citation, or trial, or even hearing. Redress he hoped 
to find in the civil courts, but failed, the court sustaining the 
association. But no polity can stand the wrong of inflicting 
the loss of ministerial standing upon a member of an associa- 
tion without trial or hearing, and give him no method of 
redress. There should, therefore, be in cases of grievance 
by an association the right of calling a mutual or ex parte 
council, under proper conditions, for review and redress. 

(8) This ministerial standing with right of appeal was 
recognized as Congregational by the National Council in 
1886, in the passage of the following resolutions,^^ namely : — 

1. Resolved^ That standing in the Congregational minis- 
try is acquired by the fulfillment of these three conditions,, 
namely: (1) Membership in a Congregational church; (2) 
Ordination to the Christian ministry ) and (3) Reception as 
an ordained minister into the fellowshijD of the Congrega- 
tional churches, in accordance with the usage of the state 
or territorial organization of churches in which the appli- 
cant may reside ; and such standing is to be continued in 
accordance with these usages, it being understood that 
2i pro re nata council is the ultimate resort in all cases of 
question. 

2. Resolved., That all Congregational ministers in good 

51 Shurtleff v. Stevens, 51 Vt. 501 ; 31 Am. Repts. 704. ^2 Minutes, 43, 44. 



162 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

standing in their respective states, who have been installed 
by council, or who have been regularly called to the pastor- 
ate by the specific vote of some church, have formally ac- 
cepted such position, and have been recognized as such by 
some definite act of the church, should be enrolled as pas- 
tors ; and we advise that all our denominational statistics, and 
direct that, so far as possible, our Year Book, conform to this 
principle. 

The above resolutions were reported by a committee. The 
following resolutions on the same subject were also adopted. 

3. Resolved^ That this National Council commends to the 
churches, in accordance with our ancient usage, the impor- 
tance of properly called ecclesiastical councils, ordinarily 
selected from the vicinage, and especially the great impor- 
tance of the installation of ministers to the pastorate by 
councils, when it is practicable, as • conducive to the purity 
of the ministry and the prosperity of the churches. 

4. Resolved^ That the state organizations and local or- 
ganizations of churches be recommended to consider such 
modifications of their constitution as will enable them to 
become responsible for the ministerial standing of ministers 
within their bounds, in harmony with the principle that the 
churches of any locality decide upon their own fellowship. 

5. Resolved^ That the Year Book designate pastors who 
have been installed or recognized by councils called to exam- 
ine the pastor-elect and assist in inducting him into office by 
the letters p. c, and pastors otherwise inducted by the letter 
^., it being understood that these changes shall be first made ' 
in the Year Book for 1888. 

The first and second resolutions were adopted unanimously ; 
the others almost unanimously. They recognize and allow 
the usages of the several states to govern in those states. 
Thus there is liberty in unity. 

The fourth resolution recommends the re-adjustment of 
state and local associations of churches or conferences so as 
to recognize the holding of ministerial standing in them. 



MINISTEBIAL STANDING. 163 

In doing this, care should be had to avoid the trial of a min- 
ister before a promiscuous assembly of the churches. Min- 
isterial discipline arouses passions and often creates parties. 
It should therefore be guarded in all proper ways, that what- 
•ever result may be reached, no just charges of unfitness in 
the tribunal can be made. Some such regulation or rule 
should be adopted by every conference or association of 
churches wherein ministerial standing is held as the follow- 
ing, namely : — 

When the standing of any church or ministerial member 
is called in question, and a trial is to be had, a special meet- 
ing of the body shall be called for the purpose, which 
special meeting shall consist of all the ministerial members 
of the body in good standing, and a single male delegate 
of lawful age from each church connected with the body. 

Such a rule, together with an appeal from the action of 
the conference or association of churches to a mutual council, 
will constitute an adequate safeguard. 

§ 125. This ministerial standing in associations of 
churches, with appeal to mutual councils in cases of griev- 
ance, protects and completes our polity. The churches in 
a localit}^, in the exercise of their "inalienable right" of giv- 
ing and withholding fellowship, find that the best and safest 
way is to join together in an association for communion and 
labor, as expressive of their union in the church-kingdom. 
Brotherly love binds them into one as the church-kingdom is 
one. These associations unite in a state or provincial asso- 
ciation, and these again in a national union or council, and 
all ki an ecumenical union. In this completed fellowship 
the local or district associations have the inalienable right to 
extend or withhold fellowship to individual churches and 
ministers, but they therein are bound to regard the common 
faith and discipline of the whole, otherwise they may them- 
selves be cut off from fellowship by other associations in the 
exercise of their right of self-protection. There is no exer- 
cise of authority except that of self-protection, while the 



164 TEE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

unity and the ministerial function of the church-kingdom are 
both properly recognized and guarded. There is protection 
without the state control which our early New England 
fathers claimed and exercised.^^ A few selected churches 
can not override the inalienable right of the churches in any 
locality, and by a council picked from anywhere force fellow- 
ship upon the great majority of churches. Our polity is also 
protected in another way. Many ministers, and the number 
is increasing, after ordination pass from church to church, 
and from state to state, without any installing council to as- 
certain their doctrinal belief or ecclesiastical position. They 
are in good and regular standing in the Congregational min- 
istry, if nothing but an ordaining council be required to give 
them such standing. Against such unaccountable ministers 
the churches have been warned by every method, but to little 
effect, so short are their memories. The only way to reach 
them is through standing in associations of churches which 
can call them to account. If a minister refuse to hold such 
standing, he therein proves his disregard for ministerial ac- 
countability, and the churches may and should disclaim any 
responsibility for him. His ordination does not lift him 
above accountability to the churches. If he repudiate this 
form of accountability, let him call a council of installation 
every time he changes churches. But if he repudiate both 
methods, the churches stultify themselves in publishing his 
name in the minutes and Year Books, without at the same 
time noting their irresponsibility for him. Churches by call- 
ing such ministers do not put them into ministerial fellow- 
sliip and standing, as we shall see (§§ 131, 200), but may 
themselves be dealt with for breach of covenant relations, 
if they persist in employing such irresponsible ministers 

(§211). 

The complete adoption of this principle of ministerial 
standing and its consequent mode of ministerial discipline 
(§§ 211, 214) will give our polity the completeness, unity, 

63 Cambridge Plat. chap, xvii; The New Englander, 1883, 470-473. 



MINISTEBIAL STANDING. 165 

and protection, without the coercive element, which charac- 
terized it at the outset in this country, but which it has 
lacked through much of its career. But the bearing of 
such ministerial standing on the mode of ministerial dis- 
ciphne will be considered in Lecture Tenth, where many 
questions respecting it will have full consideration. 



LECTURE VII. 

THE DOCTEINB OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — THE 
CHURCHES AND THEIR OFFICERS. 

'^AU the churches of Christ salute yow." — Saint Paul. 

'* Neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making your- 
selves ensamples to «^e ^ocyfc." — Saint Peter. 

We have shown the independence of the local churches, 
and set forth the ministry of the. Word as the function by 
and through which the church-kingdom enlarges itself into 
a constantly increasing number of local churches. We turn 
now to the internal structure, functions, and external rela- 
tions of the churches. 

§ 126. And here we need to recall the meaning of the^ 
word ecclesia, or church, in its singular and plural number. 
It is used in the New Testament about one hundred and 
fifteen times. It is sometimes employed to give the man- 
ward side of the kingdom of heaven (§ 35), as the kingdom 
gives the Christward side of the same body of believers. 
It is thus used in the Creed : " the holy Catholic Church." 
But the word is generally employed to designate a local con- 
gregation of believers. It never means in the New Testa- 
ment a larger or smaller collection of local churches. The 
word is twice used of the Hebrew commonwealth (Act 7 : 
38; Heb. 2: 12); three times of a civil assembly (Acts 19: 
32, 39, 41), but never of a provincial or national collection 
of particular congregations. The words : " So the church 
throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace " 
(Acts 9 : 31), form only an apparent exception. They may 
be explained in either of two ways : — 

(1) The word church here refers to the scattered members 
of the church in Jerusalem. That church had been already 



MEANING OF '* CHUBGH:'' 167 

"scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judsea and 
Samaria," " all " the church, '' except the apostles " (Acts 8 : 
1). These fugitive members "went about preaching the 
Word." They were successful, and the apostles sent two 
of their number to Samaria, who, seeing the work, conferred 
the gift of the Spirit on those who had been baptized, and 
returned to Jerusalem (Acts 8 : 4, 15, 16, 25). Some of the 
brethren then scattered abroad went " as far as Phoenicia, and 
Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only 
to Jews " (Acts 11 : 19). Saul pursued the disciples " unto 
foreign cities," " to make them blaspheme " (Acts 26 ; 11), 
even to Damascus (Acts 9:3); but in all these cases he 
found the disciples in the synagogues of the Jews, " punish- 
ing them oftentimes in all the synagogues" (Acts 26: 11). 
There is no intimation that at this early and- troublous time 
the disciples had withdrawn from the synagogues and formed 
churches. It was not until Saul had been converted, had 
spent three years in Arabia (Gal. 1 : 17, 18), and had fled 
from Jerusalem to escape the wrath of his former coadjutors 
in persecution, that the Church is said to have had peace. 
We know that the Jewish believers were slow in breaking 
away from their old worship (Acts 21 : 20-24). The first 
recorded instances do not occur until much later (Acts 18 : 
7; 19: 9). We know, too, that the Jewish hahal was com- 
prehensive of Jews every-where, and that the term ecclesia 
was in such current use in its theocratic sense that it was 
natural for Luke to use it in a similar comprehensive sense 
of the ecclesia in Jerusalem when scattered abroad. "In- 
deed, it is hardly conceivable that churches, in any proper 
sense of the term, should have been formed thus early 
' throughout all Judaea, and Galilee, and Samaria ' " (Jamie- 
son, Faussett, and Brown). This view is put beyond ques- 
tion, it would seem, by the fact that Paul afterwards speaks 
of "the churches of Judsea" (Gal. 1 : 22 ; 1 Thess. 2: 14). 
If there was a provincial church in the three provinces, com- 
posed of local churches, in a.d. 39, the union did not prevent 



168 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

Ms calling the several congregations in Judaea churches, a.d. 
52. It is both a natural and consistent view, and one in har- 
mony with the otherwise universal uses of the word in the 
New Testament, to make church in this passage to mean the 
local church at Jerusalem scattered by the persecution into 
these and even more distant countries. Especially is this so 
when we consider that the converts were accustomed to syn- 
agogue worship at home and the temple worship at Jerusalem, 
their political and religious capital. As the separation be- 
tween the synagogues and the Christian congregations was 
not complete until after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 
70,^ we can not believe that the separation had been effected 
in Judsea, Galilee, and Samaria as early as A.D. 39. But if 
churches then existed there, then we reply : — 

(2) The word church in this passage means the church- 
kingdom, the whole body of believers in Christ, " the holy 
Catholic Church." " The unity or oneness of the Church of 
Christ is here presented for the first time." " Used for the 
whole body of believers, or the Church universal." ^ 

Whichever interpretation be true, the advocates of a pro- 
vincial or national Church must reject both before they can 
claim in favor of their theory this passage as the solitary 
exception to general usage. It is far more probable that one 
or the other explanation be correct than that Luke, careful 
as he was in the use of terms, should have used the word 
church in an extraordinary sense here. We can not, there- 
fore, regard this passage as an exception. 

§ 127. It is alleged that the city churches were too large 
to constitute single congregations. Three thousand were 
added on the day of Pentecost to the one hundred and 
twenty in Jerusalem (Acts 2 : 41), and after a period, " prob- 
ably not very brief," " the number of the men came to be 
about five thousand" (Acts 4: 4). How could such a great 
number of males, to say nothing of women and children, 
constitute one congregation in a city where they had up to 

1 SchaflPs Hist. Christ. Ch. i, 460. 2 Lange's Com. in loc. 



CITY CHUBCHES. 169 

this time certainly, and probably much later, no meeting- 
bouse or hall? 

(1) Many of those at first converted were foreign Jews 
who had come up to Jerusalem from fifteen countries in 
three continents, stretching from Eome in Europe, to Cyrene 
in Africa, and to Mesopotamia in Asia (Acts 2 : 8-12), 
and who shortly afterwards returned to their homes, though 
baptized, numbered, and enrolled in Jerusalem. The form 
of expression, " came to be " (Acts 4 : 4), would seem to in- 
clude all from the day of Pentecost that had been baptized. 
Many of these, no doubt, after a brief period of instruction 
in the new faith, returned to their own countries to preach 
the glad tidings to their countrymen. But allowing for 
these, the number of members left in the Jerusalem church 
was great. 

(2) The city churches may generally have met in several 
places for worship and instruction. Behevers in Jerusalem 
met in the temple and worshiped there (Acts 2 : 46 ; 3 : 1), 
also in synagogues there and elsewhere (Acts 13 : 5, 14 ; 26 : 
11). "There is no record of any effort to set apart a place 
of worship for the members of the new society. They met 
in private houses (Acts 2 : 46 ; 20 : 8 ; Rom. 16 : 5, 15, 23 ; 
1 Cor. 16 : 19; Phil. 2) or in a hired class-room (Acts 19: 
9), as opportunities presented themselves." ^ Persecuted as 
they often were, without halls, public edifices, or meeting- 
houses of their own, the members of the city churches prob- 
ably met wherever they could for worship and instruction, 
the same church being divided for this purpose into conven- 
ient sections. Such a course would seem to have been the 
natural and inevitable way of doing in this formative period 
of the churches. 

(3) But each city church was under the same officers. 
The twelve apostles abode for j^ears in Jerusalem, to instruct 
all believers ; and besides, there were elders in every church, 
a plurality of elders in each (Acts 14 : 23 ; 20 : 17, 28 ; 

3 Plumptre's Introd. to Acts. 



170 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

1 Tim. 4: 14). These elders constituted a corps of laborers 
sufficient to conduct services in many places at the same 
time. But these elders and their assistants the deacons 
were, however, officers in the church electing them, in the 
whole church, where the ultimate authority to elect and dis- 
cipline resided (§§ 99, 100).* The same thing is seen to-day 
in some city churches which hold stoutly to independency. 

(4) There is nothing in such a condition of things in the 
early city churches inconsistent with Congregationalism. 
Presbyterianism does not follow from it. If we concede, as 
we are willing to do, that the primitive city churches were 
so large that each probably met in several places under its 
presbytery of elders, we do not concede that each section of 
the one city church was itself a particular church with its 
separate officers. The division of a large church into neigh- 
borhood congregations, or different congregations meeting in 
the same place but at different times, for convenience of 
worship and instruction, is one thing ; but the union of two 
or more completely organized congregations in an association, 
with authority to govern, is quite another. The former is 
Congregationalism, but the latter is Presbyterianism. We 
find no germ of a provincial or a national church here in city 
churches ; and, if not here, then nowhere in the New Testa- 
ment or in the ante-Nicene period. 

§ 128. We may define a local or particular church to be 
the congregation of recognized believers in a place, assem- 
bling statedly under a mutual agreement to observe Christ's 
ordinances in one society. There are five things here which 
need to be specially noticed in this definition: (1) Those 
constituting a Christian church must be believers, true fol- 
lowers of Jesus Christ (§ 94) ; (2) they must live near 
enough together to meet statedly for worship, business, 
and labor ; (3) there must be some recognition of one another 
as Christians, with the proper tests in life, belief, and disci- 

4 Neander's Planting, 151; Davidson's Eccl. Pol. lect. ii; Ecclesia, or Church Prob- 
lems, 61. 



A CHUBCH. 171 

pline ; (4) there must be some agreement to observe the 
ordinances of Christ together. This agreement is a covenant, 
whether written or understood, and constitutes the body a 
church ; and (5) they must become one society ; that is, one 
body, under the same officers, with one record, and doing as 
an organized unit whatever it does, in worship, business, and 
evangehzation. Any such organization is a church of Jesus 
Christ, named after the place where it exists. 

§ 129. A church is not strictly a voluntary society ; for 
the word " voluntary " makes the will or option of the mem- 
bers a fundamental thing in its formation. This is false and 
pernicious in the extreme, implying as it does that a believer 
may rightly stay out of the local church, if he choose to do so. 
The believer is already in the church-kingdom in virtue of 
being a believer, of which church-kingdom every true church 
is a normal and fundamental manifestation. He can not stay 
out of the local church, therefore, without violating the 
essential law of the church-kingdom, as well as the express 
command of Christ. He virtually denies the Lord that 
bought him. He refuses to manifest with others what he is. 
as a redeemed sinner. And no wonder, when such is the 
case, that it soon became a maxim of the Roman Cathohc; 
Church : " Out of the church there is no salvation." This 
maxim, hardened into a universal rule, is less pernicious, 
when we take a true conception of local churches as manifes- 
tations of the church-kingdom, than the position that churches 
are voluntary societies. The very close connection of bap- 
tism with faith (Matt. 28 : 19 ; Mark 16 : 16 ; Acts 2 : 38, 41 ; 
1 Peter 3 : 21) removes all option from the believer, except 
as to which of two or more true churches he shall join. He 
is bound as a believer to be in some local church. 

§ 130. The members in a local church stand on an essen- 
tial equality one with another. There is no aristocracy 
within the household, but common rights and privileges 
and responsibilities. Those chosen to office are not essen- 
tially, but only officially, above the rest. Their position is 



172 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

one of function, not of order or rank. This is assumed 
every-wliere in the Acts and Epistles. We might argue the 
same from the origin of the churches in the Jewish syna- 
gogues. But it is conceded. "Hence it appears that the 
church was at first composed entirely of members standing 
in an equality with one another, and that the apostles alone 
held a higher rank and exercised a directing influence over 
the whole." ^ "The whole body of Christians was upon a 
level. ' All ye are brethren.' The distinctions which Saint 
Paul makes between Christians are based not upon office, 
hut upon varieties of spiritual power. . . . They do not mark 
'off class from class, but one Christian from another. . . . 
The gift of ruling is not different in kind from the gift of 
healing." ^ Elders were not essentially above laymen, hence 
they are forbidden to lord it over the charge allotted to them, 
but are required to make themselves examples to their respect- 
ive flocks (1 Pet. 5 : 3). 

CHURCH OFFICBES. 

§ 131. The ministry of the Word is in some respects inde- 
pendent of local churches (§§ 111, 113: 4), but largely it 
is an office in such churches. This is true particularly of 
the permanent ministry; that is, of elders, bishops, pastors, 
and teachers. Whenever these enter upon the duty of tend- 
ing and feeding a particular flock, they constitute the highest 
officers in that church. 

(1) It is not certain how the elders of the first churches 
were appointed (§ 100: 4). The apostles may have "ap- 
pointed the firstfruits " of their labors " to be bishops and 
deacons of those who should afterwards believe." "' Cyprian 
said that a bishop is "chosen" "by the suffrage of an entire 
people ; " ^ that " they themselves have the power either of 
choosing worthy priests or of rejecting unworthy ones " ; 
:and he stoutly maintains that it is " of divine authority that 

5 Neander'b Planting, 32. o Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chlis. 119. 

^ Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. xlii. 8 Epis. liv, 6. 



PLURALITY OF ELDEBS. 173 

a priest should be chosen in the presence of the people under 
the eyes of all," and that " God commands it." ^ ''A bishop 
should be elected by all the people." ^^ "The Teaching of 
the Twelve Apostles " says : " Appoint, therefore, for your- 
selves bishops and deacons." ^^ The latest book of the 
Apostolic Constitutions requires, under the authority of 
Peter, that a bishop be chosen by the whole people. ^^ As 
the custom of choosing bishops and elders could not have 
originated in the second or third centuries, it must have 
been apostolic. We may conclude then that independent 
churches and all local churches have the right and power 
of electing their own pastors and bishops. 

(2) There was undoubtedly a plurality of elders or pas- 
tors in the primitive churches (§ 127 : 3). They constituted 
a presbytery within the local church. The early custom is 
approved by our churches,^^ though in practice they lay all 
the burdens of the primitive eldership upon the head and 
heart of one frail man. The Sunday-school teacher, however, 
has in later years come to relieve him in part. Our large 
city churches greatly need a presbytery of elders in each, to 
do the varied and exacting duties of the pastorate. 

(3) The duties of the bishops or elders in a church may 
be summed up in these words : To preach the Word ; to 
administer the sacraments ; to have the spiritual oversight of 
the flock ; generally, to preside at all church meetings ; and 
to exercise the rule of wisdom, counsel, and love. We do 
not regard the expressions : " he that ruleth " (Rom. 12 : 8) ; 
"them that . . . are over you" (1 Thess. 5 : 12) ; " the elders 
that rule well " (1 Tim. 5 : 17) ; and " that have the rule 
over you " (Heb. 13 : 7, 17, 24), as implying the complete 
authority of government, or the power of the keys. Peter 
gives a charge needing ever to be recalled : " Tend the flock 
of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of 
constraint, but willingly, according unto God; nor yet for 

9 Epis. Ixvii, 3, 4. " Canons Ch. Alexandria, Can. ii. 

11 Chap. XV. 12 Book viii, iv. i3 Boston Plat, part ii, ch.,iv, 5. 



174 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as lording it over 
the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples 
to the flock " (1 Peter 5 : 2, 3). That such exhortation was 
needed is clear from history. " The office of the presbyter- 
bishops was to teach and to rule the particular congregation 
committed to their charge. They were the regular ' pastors 
and teachers.' To them belonged the direction of public 
worship, the administration of discipline, the care of souls, 
and the management of church property."^* An Oriental 
shepherd (pastor) is a fit pattern for the presbyter-bishop to 
imitate. 

(4) The membership of elders is twofold, since they are 
both Christians and ministers. As Christians, membership 
should be in some local church ; but as ministers, it should 
be in an association of churches. The latter, with ministerial 
standing, has been sufficiently discussed (§§ 123-125). As 
to church membership, it should properly be held in the 
church where the man is pastor, but it is not essential that 
it be held there.^^ Rev. John Mitchell said, in 1838 : " It is 
insisted on by some that a minister shall be a member of the 
church of which he is pastor, and subject, like any other 
member, to its watch and discipline. But neither the reasons 
nor the passages from Scripture which are adduced in sup- 
port of the position are satisfactory ; and by a great majority 
of the denomination it is not, I believe, admitted." Later, 
quoting from Upham's Ratio Disciplinse a passage giving the 
opposite custom,^^ he says : " Mr. Upham must have been 
misled by the practice, probably, of his own vicinity, or by 
some of the early writers whom he consulted. As it regards 
the great body of the denomination, it is believed that the 
contrary is settled both in principle and practice." ^^ It is 
asserted that in England also church membership almost 
never follows changes in pastorates. This question of mem- 
bership rests on the principle that there is a ministerial func- 

" SchalFs Hist. Christ. Cli. i, 495. !<■' 43 Bib. Sacra, 405, 406. 

i" § 135. " Guide to Principles and Practice Cong. Chhs. of New England, 237. 



MimSTEBIAL ACCOUNTABILITY. 175 

tion in the church-kingdom not wholly dependent on the 
local churches (§ 113: 4). If we reject this function, and 
reduce the ministry to the pastorate,^^ then church member- 
ship should go always with the pastorate. 

Whether a member of the church he serves or not, the 
pastor has the right to preside over church meetings ; for the 
€all to the office of pastor includes this right among others. 
Of course, if the meeting pertain to himself, his call, salary, 
dismissal, or discipline, propriety requires that he vacate the 
ohair and, in other matters than discipline, the room. This 
right was recognized by Upham as early as 1844, for he says : 
" The practice of the churches permits him to act as the 
moderator of the church ex officio; and that, too, whether 
he has become a member or not, . . . because, holding the 
pastoral office, he has the implied consent and approval of 
the brethren in the discharge of that duty."^^ If a member 
of the church, he can vote, like any other member, and break 
a tie-vote as moderator ; but if he be not a member of the 
church he serves, his election as its pastor does not give him 
the right to vote, or the right to break a tie-vote as modera- 
tor. This right can, however, be conferred on him as pastor 
by the standing rules of the church. It is seldom wise to 
determine church action by a tie-vote. A measure which 
ean not command a majority of lay votes should ordinarily be 
allowed to fail. 

(5) As the membership of ministers is dual, so their 
accountability is dual. As Christians they are subject to 
the care and discipline, like other members, of the churches 
of which they are members ; but as ministers they are sub- 
ject to the association or confederation of churches where 
they belong. Of this we have spoken elsewhere (§§ 123- 
125). Of their church accountability we need to speak. 
Paul said to the Ephesian elders : " Take heed unto your- 
selves, and to all the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost 

18 Cam. Plat. ch. ix, 6, 7; Dexter's Congregationalism, 150, with notes. 
i9 Ratio Discip. § 85, 2. 



176 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

hatli made you bishops" (Acts 20: 28). They were in the 
church, not over it, subject to its watch-care in some particu- 
lars no doubt, like other members (Matt. 18: 15-18). The 
right of election involves the right of removal and discipline. 
Even the apostles were not above all responsibility to the 
brethren. Peter was called to account for visiting Cornelius 
(Acts 11 : 2, 18). The church at Antioch sent out missiona-^ 
ries and received their report on returning (Acts 13: 2; 14: 
27). The same church took the initiative in heahng dissen- 
sions (Acts 15 : 2). The church at Ephesus called those- 
claiming to be apostles to account (Rev. 2: 2). The church 
in Thyatira is blamed for suffering a false prophetess ta 
seduce its members (Rev. 2: 20). 

These passages would seem to go beyond church member- 
ship, and refer to ministerial membership or functions, and 
so make bishops subject in all respects to the churches they 
serve. This is confirmed by " The Teaching of the Twelve 
Apostles " on bishops and deacons. The churches were to 
appoint for themselves these officers ; were told not to despise 
them, but " reprove one another, uot in anger, but in peace,, 
as ye have it in the gospel." '^ The church in Corinth went 
so far as to depose elders, "men of excellent behaviour," from 
their office. ^^ At a time when the confederation of independ- 
ent churches could not be had, each church, while recogniz- 
ing the ministry of other churches, had no way of conferring- 
with other churches about them, and had therefore to act for 
itself. This right belongs to the essence of church independ- 
ency. But while holding this right firmly, another principle 
comes in to modify it, namely : the fellowship of the churches. 
It is a matter of concern to all, touching the welfare of all, 
what the ministry shall be. Hence in the recognition of the 
ministerial function and call in ordination, those churches in 
the vicinity most affected thereby should be consulted in 
said ordination. The same is true of the discipline and 
deposition of ministers. While each church can ordain and 

2" Chap. XV. 21 Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. xliv. 



mAUaUBATIOX OF PASTOBS. 177 

depose its own bishops, in virtue of its autonomy, yet if ordi- 
nation be an ecclesiastical recognition of a divine call into 
the ministry, the function and call can not be limited to 
one local church. Hence the ecclesiastical recognition should 
be wider than that of one church, and the ministerial stand- 
ing and accountability should also be wider. Thus by reason 
of the fraternity of the churches and the ministerial function 
of the church-kingdom, ministers, whether pastors or not, 
should be dealt with in a way that recognizes both the inde- 
pendence of local churches and their ministerial function. 
They are more than church members ; they are also church 
officers. They are more than church officers : they are also 
ministers of Christ ; and they should be so treated. Hence 
there arises accountable ministerial standing in associations 
of independent churches (§§ 123-125). 

(6) The inauguration of ministers into the pastorate. 
This may have been by the laying on of hands and prayer at 
their ordination, but we have no proof of it. The Revised 
Version changes " ordain " to appoint (Acts 11 : 23 ; Titus 
1: 5). Whatever ceremony was had on the inauguration of 
pastors, it was performed by the church itself or by the 
apostles on behalf of the church, for only to these was- 
the power of the keys given. Xo ceremony was necessary, 
no council of churches was necessary, to constitute an 
elected minister a pastor. He is pastor in virtue of his ac- 
ceptance of the office. " The essence and substance of the 
outward calling of an ordmary officer in the church doth not 
consist in his ordination, but in his voluntary and free elec- 
tion by the church, and in his accepting of that election. . . 
Ordination doth not constitute an officer nor give him the 
essentials of his office."^ "Officers chosen by the church 
are also to be ordained by it with prayer, and, customarily^ 
with laying on of hands." ^'^ 

Installation, then, is not essential to the pastorate. Elec- 

22 Cam. Plat. chap, ix, 2. 

23 Boston Plat, part ii, chap, v, 4; Minutes Xatioual Council, 1SS3, T'2, 73. 



178 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

tion and acceptance are its essence and substance. There 
is no fundamental difference therefore between a pastor in- 
stalled and a pastor uninstalled, or, as it has hitherto been 
published in our minutes and Year Books, but not in any 
other Congregational Year Books in the world, between 
"pastors" and "acting pastors." This has been fully dis- 
cussed in another place.^ The object of this "invidious dis- 
tinction " is ministerial accountability. But even here it 
fails to reach two thirds of those in our active ministry, and 
three fourths of our whole ministry. It consequently fails 
as a safeguard of purity. A complete and safe mode of 
ministerial accountability in associations of churches must 
speedily replace it (§§ 122-125). 

§ 132. There were also deacons in the churches. They 
were church officers after elders or bishops, and are four 
times mentioned in the New Testament (Rom. 16 : 1 ; Phil. 
1: 1; 1 Tim. 3: 8, 12). The word translated deacon signi- 
fies "a waiter, attendant, servant, minister." It is used 
thirty times in the New Testament, and is in the Revised 
Version rendered servant, deacon, minister. " Bishops and 
deacons " are joined in " The Teaching of the Twelve Apos- 
tles " 2^ as the permanent officers of a church. 

(1) The office of deacon originated in a want. The 
charitable ministration of the apostles did not suit all mem- 
bers of the church at Jerusalem. Hence they called for the 
election by the church of seven almoners to have charge of 
this ministration (Acts 6 : 1-6). These seven are nowhere 
called deacons, but the office and name are to be traced to 
their election, as their great duty is given as serving tables — 
^' to deacon tables." No elders had yet been appointed, as 
the apostles gave themselves — twelve in this one church — 
steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Hence- 
forth there was to be a division of labors in the church. 

(2) The duties of deacons are learned from the cause of 
their election. "Widows were neglected in the daily minis- 

2* 43 Bib. Sacra, 401-422. 22 Chap. xv. 



DEACONS. 179 

tration," and so the apostles said to " the multitude of the 
disciples " : " It is not fit that we should forsake the word of 
God, and serve tables." Then seven men " of good report, 
full of the Spirit and of wisdom," were elected and ordained 
" over this business," that the apostles might " continue 
steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word." 
A clear distinction is here drawn between the business and 
charitable affairs of a church, and the proper work of the 
ministry. The elders are concerned with the ministry of the 
Word and prayer ; but it is the duty of deacons to look after 
the benevolences and other business. The deacons were not 
also ministers of the Word. Their duties were : to care for 
the poor and sick ; to look after the business affairs of the 
church ; to counsel with and advise the pastor ; to assist at 
the sacraments ; and to exercise a subordinate oversight of 
the church in spiritual matters, but not to preach the gospel. 

(3) The office in its nature is therefore lay and not clerical. 
The diaconate is not an order in the ministry of the Word ; 
it is expressly an office for the ministry of tables. This is 
proved from their original appointment, their qualifications, 
and the appointment of women to this office (Rom. 16 : 1 ; 
1 Tim. 3 : 11), who are excluded from the ministry of the 
Word(l Cor. 14: 34-36). 

(4) The qualifications for the diaconate may be given, 
since not every one fit to be a church member is fit also to be 
a deacon — a fact made clear by the following prerequisites : 
deacons must be (1) spiritual : " full of the Spirit " ; (2) 
orthodox : " holding the mystery of the faith in a pure 
conscience"; (3) wise : "grave," "full of wisdom"; (4) 
moral : " not double-tongued, not slanderers," " temperate," 
" not given to much wine," " not greedy of filthy lucre " ; 
(5) faithful: "faithful in all things," "ruling their children 
and their own houses well " ; (6) reputable : " men of good 
report," "blameless"; (7) approved: "and let these also 
first be proved ; then let them serve as deacons " ; and 
(8) married : " let deacons be husbands of one wife " (Acts 



180 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

6: 3; 1 Tim. 3: 8-12). Many are fit to be cliurch mem- 
bers who have not attained unto this high standard. No 
qualification refers to ability to teach or preach, or limits 
the office to males. Women filled the office, since the customs 
of those days precluded in many cases the ministry of men 
where deaconesses could be serviceable. There still is need 
of deaconesses in missionary churches, and even in home 
churches. 

(5) Deacons and deaconesses should be set apart to their 
office by the laying on of hands and prayer. They were in 
this manner at first ordained (Acts Q: Q'). This ordination 
ought still to be had, that the office may be more honored. 
It is a great loss to the churches that the functions of the 
diaconate have in the public estimation shrunken into the 
distribution of the elements at the Eucharist. Ordination 
lifts the office into a higher standing. 

(6) The authority of the diaconate is more of function 
than of rule. It is a church's hand caring for its non- 
ministerial wants. As those wants continue, the diaconate 
continues, and will ever continue. The office is one of great 
honor aud has its rich rewards for all who fill it well (1 Tim. 
3 : 13). The church which elects can also for cause vacate 
the office. Deacons are under the pastor and the church in 
a rule of love. Blessed is the church that has wise deacons, 
full of the Spirit, and of good report. Polycarp (a.d. 100- 
155) speaks of "being subject to the presbyters and deacons, 
as unto God and Christ." '^ But Ignatius (a.d. 30-107) says 
that a deacon is '' subject to the bishop as to the grace of 
God, and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ." ^7 

(7) Some churches, in order to secure the best men for 
deacons, and to have an easy rehef from unsuitable deacons, 
by standing rule elect deacons for a term of three or five 
years, one going out annually, with the proviso that no one 
shall be reelected to the office until the expiration of one 
year from the time he ceased to be deacon. This prevents 

26 Ep. rhil. chap. v. 27 Ep. Mag. chap. ii. 



BULINa ELDEBS. 181 

friction, as each vacancy that occurs must be filled by an- 
other than the retiring deacon. 

§ 133. We need to examine the supposed office of ruling 
elder in the churches. We have already seen that there was 
a presbytery of elders in each church. These presbyters are 
sometimes spoken of as ruling, as ruling well, as having the 
rule. What were these elders? Importance is given the 
question in certain quarters by the action of the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
in 1833, which declared the ruling, or lay, eldership to be 
''essential to the existence of a Presbyterian Church." ^s 

(1) There are two theories of the ruling eldership. One 
is that of our Congregational fathers, which makes ruling 
elders, presbyters, bishops, pastors, or ministers, all being of 
one and the same grade, class, rank, or order of officers in 
the churches, with a diversity of functions only. The five 
most distinguished Independent divines in the Westminster 
Assembly (1643-1647) held that ruling elders are ministe- 
rial, not lay, persons.^^ The Cambridge Platform (1648) 
takes the same view.^ This has always been the view of 
Congregationalists. 

The other theory, and the one of the Presbyterian stand- 
ards, is that ruling elders are laymen and not ministers, and 
hence that they can not ordain or join in the imposition of 
hands in ordination, or administer the sealing ordinances.^^ 

(2) The duties of ruling elders depend somewhat upon 
the theory of their office, whether it be a lay or a ministerial 
office. '• Most of the churches of New England, for some 
time after the settlement of the country, had, besides a 
pastor and a teacher and two or more deacons, a ruling 
elder, or ruling elders, whose ' business,' says the author of 
Ratio Disciplinse, ' it was to assist the pastor in visiting the 
distressed, instructing the ignorant, reducing the erroneous, 

28 Moore's Digest (1873) , 115. 2!' Hanbury's Memorials, ii, 224. 

soChap. vi, 4; vii, 1, 2. 

31 Moore's Presby. Digest (1873), 114-118; Hodge's Ch. Polity, 127, 128, 285-294. 



182 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

comforting the afflicted, rebuking the unruly, discovering 
the state of the whole flock, exercising the discipline of the 
gospel upon offenders, and promoting the desirable growth 
of the church.' " ^^ " When a minister preached to any other 
than his own church, the ruling elder of the church, after 
the psalm sung, said publicly : ' If this present brother hath 
any word of exhortation for the people at this time, in the 
name of God let him say on.' The ruling elder always read 
the psalm. When the member of one church desired to 
receive the sacrament at another, he came to the ruling elder,, 
who proposed his name to the church for their consent. At 
the communion they sat with the minister." ^ 

Under the theory of a lay eldership, ruling elders exercise 
in the Presbyterian Church " government and discipline, in 
conjunction with pastors or ministers." They may not "par- 
ticipate in the ordination of ministers by the laying on of 
hands," nor "administer sealing ordinances," but may "ex- 
plain the Scriptures and exhort in the absence of the pastor.'* 
They, with the pastor or pastors, constitute the session of a 
particular church, which session is " charged with maintain- 
ing the spiritual government of the congregation " ; to receive, 
discipline, and dismiss members ; " to concert the best meas- 
ures for promoting the spiritual interests of the congregation, 
and to appoint delegates to the higher judicatories of the 
church." ^ 

(3) The ruling elders of the New Testament were minis-^ 
ters, and not laymen. There is no evidence whatever that 
they were laymen elected to rule. The passages adduced 
for a lay eldership do not support it. The words : " he that 
ruleth, with diligence " (Rom. 12 : 8), apply equally to either 
theory, if they refer to church officers at all. The immediate 
context would make them apply to private Christians or to- 
the deacons. No proof can be drawn from the passage. 
"Governments" ( 1 Cor. 12: 28) is rendered in the margin 

32 Form and Covenant of Old South Ch. Boston, 1841, 4. 

33 Hutchinson's mst. Mass. i, 376. 3^ Moore's Presby. Digest, 114, 116, 117, 127., 



BULING ELDEBS. 18S 

"wise counsels." It may cover "elders, bishops, pastors^ 
rulers, presidents, or moderators," and is no proof for lay 
eldership. Nor is such an eldership found m the crucial 
text: "Let -the elders that rule well be counted worthy of 
double honour, especially those who labour in the word and in 
teaching" (1 Tim. 5 : 17). For, in the first place, the honor 
referred to is not of place, rank, dignity, power, but of sup- 
port. This is proved by the context. Tertullian alone of 
the ante-Nicene Christian writers refers to this " double 
honour," and reproves the giving of a double portion to " pre- 
siding bishops " at meals.^ And, in the second place, the 
word translated " especially " always distinguishes between 
members of the same class, and never between members of 
different classes. This is conclusive against lay eldership. 
These three texts are all that can be found for lay elders. 
"No footsteps are to be found in any Christian church of 
lay elders, nor were there for many hundred years." ^ The 
ruling eldership of the New Testament is ministerial. 

(4) The theory of the lay eldership is falling. This is 
manifest. In a paper read before the Second General Coun- 
cil of the Presbyterian Alliance (1880) on " Ruling Elders," 
it is not once claimed that ruling elders are laymen. The 
opposite seems to have been silently conceded.^" Prof. 
E. D. Morris, D.D., of the Lane Presbyterian Theological 
Seminary, says: "1 Tim. 5: 17 really exhibits no distinction 
in office, but simply a recognition of superiority in the pri- 
mary function of instruction." ^ Dr. Philip Schaff says of 
the distinction between two kinds of elders : " It is a con- 
venient arrangement of Reformed Churches, but can hardly 
claim apostolic sanction, since the one passage on which it 
rests only speaks of two functions in the same office." ^ Dr. 
R. D. Hitchcock, professor in the Union Presbyterian Theo- 
logical Seminary, in reviewing a work by Rev. Dr. P. C. 
Campbell, of Scotland, in which the lay eldership is surren- 

35 On Fasting, xvii. se Lange's Com. on 1 Tim. 5 : 17. 

3' Proceedings, 165-176. 38 Ecclesiology, 141. sa Hist. Christ. Oh. i, 496.. 



184 THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

dered, says : " The drift of critical opinion is now decidedly 
in this direction. It is beginning to be conceded, even 
among Presbyterians of the stanchest sort, that Calvin was 
mistaken in his interpretation of 1 Tim. 5 : IT ; that two 
orders of presbyters are not there brought to view, but only 
one order; the difference referred to being simply that of 
service, and not of rank. . . . The jure divino theory of the 
lay eldership is steadily losing ground." " We might easily 
be rid of it any day by ordaining our lay elders and making 
them ministers of the Word and dispensers of the sacra- 
ments." ^0 Such a change in Presbyterianism would make 
its government "a clerical despotism." ^^ It would rule out 
the people completely, since the power of ordination in that 
polity resides wholly in the ministry, lay ruling elders not 
being permitted, as we have seen, to have part in it. 

§ 134. There is need of some board of rulers in the local 
churches. This need is met by either theory of the ruling 
eldership ; but one, and the only true, theory makes that rule 
clerical or ministerial ; the other and failing theory makes it 
laical, since the elders are the " representatives of the people, 
chosen by them for the purpose of exercising government 
and discipline, in conjunction with pastors or ministers."^ 
Our early New England fathers had two ways of escaping 
clerical rule on their true theory of the eldership : the first 
was in reserving to the church itself the right and power *of 
admissions, dismissals, discipline, and general management 
of affairs ; and the second was in relying on the magistrates, 
elected chiefly by laymen, for protection from heresy, schism, 
and disorders.^^ In a Congregational church the power of 
ruling elders is subordinate to the church itself ; while in the 
Presbyterian polity the session governs the church and 
chooses all representatives to higher judicatories. To retain 
its popular element, that polity must justify its lay eldership 
somehow. Its jure divino claim is being surrendered and will 

4" Presby. Theol. Rev. lor 1868. ^i Hodge's Church Polity, 128, 129. 

■*- I'resby. Form of Government, chap. v. *^ Cam. Plat. chap. xvii. 



THE CHUBCH BOABD. 185 

Tiave to go. But Professor Hitchcock says : " A better support 
is sought for it in the New Testament recognition throughout 
of the right and propriety of lay participation in church gov- 
ernment ; in the general right of the church, as set forth by 
Hooker in his Ecclesiastical Polity, to govern itself by what- 
soever form it pleases." ^ This is a sad descent from a jure 
divino claim, a " Thus saith the Lord," to expediency or 
ecclesiastical rationalism. With the fall of lay ruling elder- 
ship falls the claim of a Scriptural warrant for the higher 
judicatories, and Presbyterian government becomes clerical 
rule. 

§ 135. The need of a governing board within the church 
may be Scripturally met in this way; There was at first 
Su presbytery of presbyters, or bishops, in every church (§ 131 : 
2), and there may be again, as occasion demands ; there are 
deacons in each church (§ 132) ; each church has the right 
to delegate its powers and functions, in certain particulars, to 
committees or commissioners (§ 100 : 3) ; let now the pas- 
tor or presbytery, the deacons, and a committee chosen, by 
the church for the purpose, constitute a church board, whose 
action must in matters of general concern be endorsed by 
vote of the church to become effective, and we have an au- 
thorized board within the church. Nearly all our churches 
have such a church board, named by different names, but 
composed as above described. The church board is, perhaps, 
the best name for it. All the elements composing it are au- 
thorized in the Word of God, as also the limitation of its 
powers (§§98, 99: 2, 3). Such a board of rule does not 
discredit the diaconate, as the lay ruling eldership has done, 
until in some instances it ceases to be filled at all. Hence 
the appointment of deacons in Presbyterian churches has to 
be urged and enjoined ; for " the disuse of this Scriptural and 
important office, it can not be doubted, has done great injury 
to the churches, as well as induced vague and erroneous views 
in regard to the nature and importance of the office." ^^ 

*4 Presb. Theol. Rev. 1868. « Bird's Presby. Digest, 64, note. 



186 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 136. The duties of such a church board may be defined 
as the examination of candidates for admission to church 
privileges ; the general oversight aud control of the spiritual 
interests of the church ; all preliminary inquiries into com- 
plaints against church members; the presentation of cases 
of discipline to the church ; the trial of all difficult cases, if 
so ordered by the church, with recommendations for action 
thereon ; and the devising of ways and means for the purity, 
peace, and prosperity of the church ; but in all these cases- 
the board must report to the church for final action its doings, 
and recommendations. 

The function of such a board is most important for the 
welfare of any chiuxh. Its scope may well be enlarged, and 
that too without danger. Such a church board is not the 
plural eldership of the primitive churches, nor the ruling eld^ 
ership of the Reformed Churches, nor a wholly unwarranted 
body. It does not make a church Presbyterian. It does 
give a local church rulers such as the Scriptures and the 
apostolic fathers warrant, who are not over and above the 
church, but in it, responsible to it, doing its work, reporting 
to it. So far as the ministry of the Word is concerned, such 
church board does not equal in efficiency the primitive plu- 
rality of elders in every church ; but it does put into every 
church a board of administration and stability which is greatly 
needed, and will be of untold value when fully and rightly 
worked. 

§ 137. In every well-organized society there must needs 
be a clerk or record keeper. The fact that there is no men- 
tion of such an officer in the primitive churches is no proof 
that they had none, or that churches should not have a record 
keeper in after times. It is of the utmost importance, though 
not essential to the being of a church, that the proceedings 
of a church be properly entered on some record, and so pre- 
served. It tends to order, regularity, peace, prosperity, legal 
security, to keep a journal. Each church should elect a 
clerk. 



CHUBCH CLEBK. 187 

(1) The qualifications for the office of clerk are of nature 
and of grace. Not every good man is capable of being 
a good scribe or clerk. He must have natural gifts and ac- 
quired habits. He must see to it that all things in church 
meetings are done legally, decently, and in order, and that 
a true record be made of the proceedings. He needs to be 
versed in Congregational usages and parliamentary rules. 
He needs to know what business should come before the 
church meeting, and how it should be introduced, that he 
may aid the moderator in the public business. He should be 
the fittest person in the church, except the pastor. The pas- 
tor is moderator, and should in no case be also clerk. 

(2) The duties of a church clerk are similar to those of 
the secretary or scribe of any permanent body. He is to take 
minutes of all proceedings, which, however, are private mem- 
oranda, though recorded in the church book, until adopted 
by the church; he must see to it, therefore, that the minutes 
are properly adopted. He conducts correspondence for the 
church ; gives notices of all business meetings, unless other- 
wise provided for ; keeps a roll of church members, with ad- 
ditions, dismissions, excommunications, deaths, baptism of 
infants and adults ; preserves on file, or otherwise, all letters,, 
reports, communications, notices, papers, books, journals, etc.,, 
and transmits them to his successor. He is not their owner,, 
but their custodian. He has no right to withhold them from 
the church, or committee of the church, or any legal representa- 
tive of the church, or to destroy them. He must not allow 
any alterations of the minutes after they have been approved 
by the church. He should prepare the reports for state min- 
utes. He should prepare for each business meeting an order 
of business for the use of the moderator. 

As he is the proper channel of communication between the 
church and other bodies or persons, it is important that his 
name be published in the minutes of state associations. 

§ 138. A very important office is that of treasurer. 
Judas the traitor, who had " the bag," who was " a thief," 



188 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

and who " took away what was put therein " (John 12 : 6), 
was not a church treasurer ; for the apostles were not 
a church, and besides, he lived and died under the Mosaic dis- 
pensation. The apostles were, after the day of Pentecost, the 
first church treasurers. Their duties became in time so bur- 
densome that seven almoners were chosen for " this business " 
(Acts 6: 1-6). Their services included the support of the 
ministry of the Word as well as assistance for the widows 
and the poor and sick. 

(1) This pecuniary function of the church is perpetual, 
and needs therefore recognition in an appropriate office. 
Paul, though declaring that his hands had ministered unto 
his necessities (Acts 20 : 34), claimed the right of support 
at the hands of the churches (2 Thess. 3 : 9 ; 1 Cor. 9 : 
4-14), and claimed support for the ministry, saying, "Even 
so did the Lord ordain that they which proclaim the gospel 
should live of the gospel " (1 Cor. 9 : 14). Such being the 
permanent law of the Christian dispensation, it follows that 
some one or more in every church should be assigned to this 
special duty of receiving and disbursing funds for that and 
other purposes. They who are called to this duty are called 
treasurers. As in all fiduciary trusts, they must keep an ac- 
curate account of all moneys received and disbursed, obey 
the vote of the church, be prompt in all payments, and 
make an itemized report of the treasury statedly to the 
church. 

(2) The church should choose the man best fitted for the 
position as treasurer. He needs to be honest, capable, exact, 
prompt, affable, one who can dun without offence, and who 
feels the wants of the pastor as his own. Men will not freely 
contribute through a treasurer whose honesty or even accu- 
racy they question. The treasurer must be above suspicion. 

(3) Many Congregational churches are fettered by parish 
societies (§§ 229-231), making an unscriptural division be- 
tween the spiritual and the secular affairs of a church, com- 
pelling two organizations, with separate functions, records, 



CHUBCH AND PARISH TBEA8UBERS. 189 

treasurers. We must therefore distinguish, when such is the 
case, between the church treasurer and the parish treasurer. 

(a) The church treasurer, in this case, confines his official 
duties to the missionary, benevolent, and charitable funds of 
the church, leaving all the other financial concerns to the 
parish treasurer. 

(5) The parish treasurer, on the other hand, confines his 
official oversight to the funds given or bequeathed for church 
or parsonage building, repairs, pastor's salary, salary or pay 
of others, and whatever expenses are incurred by the legal 
corporation, leaving missionary and benevolent and charitable 
funds to the church treasurer. 

(c) Hence one man ought not generally to be treasurer of 
both organizations. The two bodies, with their funds and 
objects, are so separate and yet so interwoven that to avoid 
confusion, or the subordination of one of them to the other, 
the treasurers should be different men with different books 
and reports. It is to be hoped that the parish, born of the 
union of State and Church, will soon give way, and leave the 
churches in the normal simplicity of the New Testament. 

§ 139. A church, like any other independent society, can 
appoint special committees at any time for any legitimate 
purpose. Such committees are needed. A committee may 
be empowered by vote of a church to conduct as a jury 
a trial of a member in case of great length or delicacy 
(§ 174). There may be committees on supply of the pulpit, 
on music, on any matter of interest. The church acts 
through these committees, and more efficiently than it could 
as a body. These committees, after they have finished their 
work, report to the church ; and thereupon, unless they are 
standing committees, cease to exist. " A committee ceases 
to exist as soon as the assembly receives the report," " and 
can not act further unless revived by a vote to re-commit" ^ 
or to continue the committee. 

We have now considered all actual and possible church 

4c Robert's Rules of Order, §§ 28, 30. 



190 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

officers in an independent church. Any new need may be 
met by some special committee. Even the Sunday-school 
superintendent of the home church should thus be a church 
officer (§ 216) ; and a church can appoint members to have 
charge of mission schools, and designate the teachers in the 
home and mission schools. 

§ 140. We need to remind all church officers that they 
are in the church, not over it. The ministry is especially 
liable to forget this, because of its independence, in some 
respects (§ 113 : 4), of the churches. Their ministerial func- 
tion (§ 111), recognized in ordination (§ 121), gives them in 
itself no right, authority, or privilege in any church, until 
that church by vote empowers them to act as its officers. In 
other words, those called of God and ordained to the minis- 
try to be church officers must be called by vote as pastors. 
A neglect to distinguish between the ministerial function and 
the pastoral relation has troubled both ministers and churches. 
A wide distinction must be made, for it exists in fact. Then 
no minister not also a pastor of a church will presume on the 
exercise of authority in any church ; and when he is also 
a pastor of a church, he needs to remember that he is in it 
and not over it. This is true of deacons, clerk, treasurer, 
committees. Hence certain things follow from this : — 

(1) The church that elects them to office can also remove 
them from it. The power exists in the church for both elec- 
tion and removal ; but it should not in either case be exer- 
cised without sufficient cause. But all church officers need 
to remember that it is no infringement upon their rights of 
office for the church to remove them. Of course all legal 
contracts must be kept inviolate; but a pastor, because he 
is a minister, has no claim upon pulpit or salary when once 
the church by vote properly terminates his relation as pastor 
to them. This has come reluctantly to be conceded as 
true of pastors, but it is no less true of deacons and other 
officers. 

(2) No officer has the right of veto upon the action of a 



CHUBCH 0FFICEB8 MOBE THAN 8EBVANTS. 191 

€hurch. Not even an installed pastor may refuse to put a 
motion when properly made, much less can he refuse to de- 
clare the vote or veto church action. He may vacate the 
chair and resign his pastorate ; but should he presume to 
lord it over the church in any one of these three ways, the 
€hurch may remove him from the chair by electing another 
moderator in his stead. The pastor, as moderator, is bound 
by the ordinary parliamentary rules, except as they are modi- 
fied by Congregational usages. In like manner, the clerk can 
not withhold papers, documents, or records belonging to the 
church, or correspondence as clerk, on the plea that they are 
private property, but must, instead, as the servant of the 
church, produce them when required. He is only custodian 
for the church. Church officers are the servants of the 
churches that elect them, and they that serve best are the 
greatest. 

§ 141. Church officers are also more than servants : they 
are the chosen guides of the churches electing them. They 
are to see to it, each officer in his place, that the church they 
serve shall be trained and guided thoroughly in every func- 
tion for the duties and labors required of it as a church of 
Christ. The pastor, as being the leader, or chief, or shep- 
herd, by patience, loving suggestion, example, instruction, 
should secure the prompt and complete performance of every 
organic function, that his church may be thoroughly equipped, 
and active in every good work ; so trained that every service 
and duty will go on regularly if the pastor be absent. Hence, 
though a pastor may in a noble sense be all things to all men, 
if by any means he may save some (1 Cor. 9 : 20-23), yet 
he can not wisely be all the officers in a church. Nothing is 
more destructive of organic life and power than such depend- 
ence on the pastor, unless it be an unquestioning devotion to 
him. The first duty of the pastor is the development of the 
organic life of a church, so that it shall not be a congregation 
merely, but a trained band of workers, able to stand alone 
and carry on its functions and labors for a season as a church, 



192 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

wlietlier it lias a pastor or not. Hence, if there be no* 
fit and trained men in the several offices, the pastor must 
find and train them, fitting one for one office, and another 
for another, until, like a regiment or an ocean steamer, the 
organization is perfect, with every man in the right place 
and each with his specific duty. Christ had more than a 
rabble following him : he had a band of apostles in training, 
to continue and enlarge his work. A minister and a crowd, 
of admirers do not make a strong church ; the crowd scatters 
when the minister goes : but a strong church is one organ-^ 
ized with a full corps of officers, all trained to do their ap- 
pointed work. A pastor should strive to keep his church,, 
like a ship carrying a priceless cargo, well officered, well 
trained, well trimmed, able to care for itself and do its work, 
hold its meetings, transact its business, carry on its benevo- 
'lent and missionary labors, whether the pastor be present or 
absent. 

There is great evil also in laying all, or a large number of,, 
the offices in a church, other than the pastorate, upon one 
man who has leisure or ambition or self-denial for every 
thing. Offices should be as widely distributed as possible, 
that many may be in training. If one man runs the church,, 
others lose interest in it ; opposition to the one-man. 
power surely arises, and the church is paralyzed. If that one 
pillar should fall, the church, if not utterly demoralized by 
its long idleness, will rally and prosper, and wonder what 
ailed it all the years of its feebleness. The offices must be 
distributed as widely as possible, and men trained in them, if 
a church would become what it ought to be. Hence the 
pastor should quietly see to it that the greatest efficiency 
be secured in the church under the greatest number of the- 
best guides it can command. This is a part of his official 
business. 

Yet the officers must shun in practice, as in theory, the defi- 
nition of a church given by Rev. Samuel Stone, " the famous 
colleague of the more famous Hooker," pastor of the First 



CHUBCH NOT A SILENT DEMOCBACY. 193 

Church, Hartford, Conn., from 1633 to 1663, when he said : 
" A church is a speaking aristocracy in the face of a silent 
democracy ; " ^'' that is, " The elders only were to speak in 
the transaction of church affairs ; the brethren were to give 
their consent in silence." ^^ If any pastor has this conception 
of a church, at the present time, he will attempt to be more 
than a guide. He will lord it over his people, and will soon 
find, like Noah's dove, no rest for the soles of his feet. The 
church, not the pastor nor the officers, is the depository of 
ecclesiastical power, and it can speak in business meetings, 
and in all other meetings. 

*7 Dr. L. Bacon's Hist. Discourse, Contrib. to Eccl. Hist. Ct. 16. 



LECTURE VIII. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — WORSHIP 
AND SACRAMENTS. 

" God is a Spirit : and they that worship Mm must worship in spirit and 
truth.^^ — Jesus Christ. 

" Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost.^^ — Jesus Christ. 

"As often as ye eat this bread, and. drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's 
death till he come.'' — Saint Paul. 

The local churches are manifestations of the church- 
kingdom for worship, sacraments, fellowship, and labors. 
No one of them exists for itself alone, and entertainment 
does not enter into its constitution and relations. 

THE WORSHIP OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 

§ 142. Christian worship is largely social. It is the 
communion of saints in prayer and praise. The individual 
believer may worship God in private ; it is indeed his duty 
(Matt. 6 : 6) ; he may meet with a few others in occasional 
worship ; but this is not enough : he must worship in church 
relations. Out of this inherent tendency to communion, 
horn of the Spirit, come the local churches in every place, 
all arising from, and exemplifying, the unity of the church- 
kingdom. Hence worship inheres in the idea of a Christian 
church. It constitutes an essential element of a church. 
We can not dissociate worship from a church without de- 
stroying our conception of a church. The life that makes 
men saints and unites saints in a church estate is a life of 
prayer and praise, of fellowship in the worship of Christ 
Jesus our Lord. It is this life that causes believers in 
times of persecution to dare death itself that they may meet 



CHBISTIAN WOE SHIP. 195 

together. Take worship away, and a church would become 
a synagogue of Satan. The unity of the church-kingdom 
appears in this necessity for social worship ; and as this wor- 
ship is a matter of ecclesiastical regulation, its discussion 
belongs to church polity. 

§ 143. As all regulations respecting worship in churches 
should conserve the nature and end of true worship, we 
must, at the outset, determine what its nature and end are. 

(1) Christian worship must be in spirit and truth, for God 
is a Spirit, and " such doth the Father seek to be his wor- 
shippers " (John 4 : 23, 24). It need be no longer at Jerusa- 
lem, but it may be offered every-where. If only two or three 
agree together for worship in spirit and truth, Christ prom- 
ises to be in the midst of them (Matt. 18: 20). There must 
be the genuine worship of the soul, not the formal offering of 
accustomed service. 

(2) This worship must be offered in the name of Christ, 
or it is not Christian worship. Christ said : '•'- Hitherto ye 
have asked nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall receive, 
that your joy may be fulfilled." " If ye shall ask anything 
of the Father, he will give it you in my name." " In that 
day ye shall ask in my name " (John 16: 23, 24, 26). This 
marks a radical change in the prayers of Christ's disciples : 
before, they had not used the name of the Son of God; there- 
after, they were to use it. Their worship was to cease being 
Jewish and become, for the first time. Christian. Monothe- 
istic worship should give place to Trinitarian, " that all may 
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (John 5: 
23). This puts a limit to Christian fellowship (§ 232 : 4). 

(3) Christian worship must be in faith and penitence. 
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11 : 6). 
" Now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere 
repent" (Acts 17: 30). The preparation needed for true 
worship is, to testify, "both to Jews and to Greeks, repent- 
ance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ " 
(Acts 20 : 21). 



196 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

The nature of Christian worship requires the offering of 
praise and prayer, in faith and repentance, in the genuine 
adoration of our spiritual natures, unto God the Father, in 
the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Neither the simple 
household form, nor the gorgeous ritualistic form of the pre- 
ceding dispensations, strongly fostered true worship. The 
Christian form needs to foster it, or it misses its end. 

§ 144. The end of church worship is threefold. 

(1) First of all, the end of worship is the glory of God. 
We are to do all things for his glory (1 Cor. 10 : 31) ; and 
if in the necessary acts of life, how much more in the very 
highest act of which the soul is capable, the worship of Al- 
mighty God ! The whole plan of redemption has God's 
glory as its chief and final consummation. In it he has made 
known the riches of his glory (Rom. 9 : 23), that he may 
cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God (2 
Cor. 4: 15). But this is not all. 

(2) Church worship is for Christian edification. All the 
spiritual gifts bestowed upon the primitive churches were 
given, says Paul, " that the church may receive edifying " 
(1 Cor. 14: 5). Hence he wrote: "Seek, that ye may 
abound unto the edifying of the church " (1 Cor. 14 : 12, 18, 
19). If edification was the end of supernatural gifts, it is 
also of natural gifts. Every thing in the worship must pro- 
mote spiritual building up. This excludes from church ser- 
vices spectacular exhibitions, dead languages, vain rantings, 
whatever fails to edify the saints. 

(3) Church services are for the conversion of unbelievers. 
The gift of tongues was a sign for this purpose (1 Cor. 14 : 
22) — a sign, a monitor, but nothing more. "But if all 
prophesy, and there come m one unbelieving or unlearned, 
he is reproved by all, he is judged by all ; the secrets of his 
heart are made manifest ; and so he will fall down on his 
face and worship God, declaring that God is among you 
indeed" (1 Cor. 14: 24, 25). If that was true of inspired 
teachini^ in languaf^e that all could understand, it will be 



FOBM OF CHBISTIAN WOBSHIP. 197 

true, in its degree, of uninspired teaching, the Spirit applying 
the Word for the conviction and conversion of sinners. 
Hence it is the law of all church worship : " Let all things 
be done unto edifying." 

§ 145. The form of church worship should be that which 
best satisfies the nature and end of worship. That form may- 
change in details to suit the environment, but must be essen- 
tially the same to meet the wants of saints and the conver- 
sion of sinners. Hence : — 

(1) No fixed form of Christian worship has been revealed. 
There was large liberty under the patriarchs, though there 
bloody sacrifices and a right spirit were essential (Gen. 4: 
4, 5). But under Moses liberty was excluded in a fixed and 
minute ritual (§ 20). Under Christ again there is liberty, 
with no ritual, no imposed and fixed form of worship, as 
becomes an ecumenical religion. A few things are enjoined 
in the New Testament, but the order and details are not 
given. Even the Lord's Prayer is not given twice alike 
(Matt. 6 : 9-13 ; Luke 11 : 2-4), and to reduce it to a litur- 
gical form, a doxology had to be added. No one can find 
a ritual or liturgy, or even a full order of services in the 
New Testament. " The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " 
gives three short eucharistic prayers, but adds : " But permit 
the prophets to give thanks in such terms as they please." ^ 
Nor is there any claim that the prayers given must be used, 
though the implication is that they are to be used Yet we 
learn from Justin Martyr that prayer was offered by the 
leader " according to his ability ; " ^ that is, extemporaneously. 
"There is no trace of a uniform and exclusive liturgy; it 
would be inconsistent with the liberty and vitality of the 
apostolic churches." ^ 

(2) The best form of Christian worship is that which best 
meets the nature and end of worship, which have been 
given. But the conditions are not the same in all ages, 
communities, and peoples ; and, indeed, these conditions 

1 Chap. X. 2 First Apol. chap. Ixvii. s Schaff 's mst. Christ. Ch. i, 463. 



198 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

change in the same communities. The same essential wants 
vary in their demands among different classes of men ; and 
a variety of forms would seem best adapted to satisfy these 
wants. The Sunday and the week-day services are quite 
diverse ; and a wise discretion will vary the services to meet 
the demands of the occasion. An ecumenical religion should 
be flexible in its form of worship, so as to comprehend all 
races, nations, tribes, tastes, conditions, wants, classes, and 
give to each church the worship which shall best suit its- 
needs. 

(3) To secure this flexibility Christ gave complete liberty 
to his churches in matters of worship. This liberty is one of 
the inherent rights of independent churches, which no one 
can take from them. This freedom in worship was one of 
the things " ordained in all the churches " by the apostles. 
Each church, whether chiefly coming from Jews or Gentiles, 
could regulate its own worship, changing it to suit its own 
needs. Many churches might have many forms, substantially 
alike, but varying somewhat. And so now, were all churches 
of one faith and order, there might be found in any city all 
the varieties of worship which we now see, save the mass. 
One might use the Prayer-Book, another the Lutheran ritual, 
another the baldest services, each meeting the wants of its 
worshipers, but each and all in the sweetest fellowship and 
most cordial cooperation. Congregationalism not only allows, 
but also encourages, this broad and catholic liberty. 

§ 146. This liberty gave variety to the forms of worship 
among the primitive churches. Rituals were not unknown, 
as we shall show, but they were not one and the same 
for all. 

(1) Their model was no doubt that of the Jewish syna- 
gogue, which has been thus described: "The people being^ 
seated, the minister, or angel of the synagogue, ascended the 
pulpit and offered up the public prayers, the people rising 
from their seats and standing in a posture of deep devotion.. 
The prayers were nineteen in number, and were closed by 



PBIMITIVE CHBISTIAN W0B8HIP. 199 

reading Deut. 6: 4-9; 11: 13-21; Num. 15: 37-41. The 
next thing was the repetition of their phylacteries, after 
which came the reading of the law and the prophets. . . . 
The last part of the service was the expounding of the Script- 
ures and preaching from them to the people. This was 
done either by one of the officers or by some distinguished 
person who happened to be present. . . . The whole service 
concluded with a short prayer or benediction." ^ There was 
singing or chanting in the synagogue services. As the syna- 
gogue was not itself expressly authorized under the law, 
and as each one was independent of the rest, the ritual of 
the synagogue can not be regarded as divinely authorized. 

(2) We catch a glimpse of the primitive church worship 
through the door of disorders, and find that they had in the 
services inspired prophesying, speaking with tongues, inter- 
pretation of tongues, revelations, all which were supernatural 
gifts ; then, reading the Scriptures, prayers, singing or chant- 
ing, and preaching. But the order in which these occurred 
is not given. Any adult male could participate. 

The synagogue prayers may have been used at first, called 
perhaps "the prayers" (Acts 2: 42); but they would not 
long suffi.ce, since prayer was to be offered in the name of 
Christ. The Psalms too would no longer meet their wants, 
since the coming Christ of the Old Testament had become 
the crucified and ascended Redeemer of the New Dispensation. 
Hence new prayers, " hymns and spiritual songs," arose and 
were used (Eph. 5: 19; Col. 3: 16). "Psalms, hymns, and 
unpremeditated bursts of praise, chanted in the power of the 
Spirit, such as those of the gift of tongues, were the chief 
elements of the service. The right of utterance was not 
denied to any man (women even seem at first to have been 
admitted to the same right) (Acts 21 : 9 ; 1 Cor. 11 : 5) who 
possessed the necessary gifts (1 Cor. 14: 26-33) and was 
ready to submit to the control of the presiding elder or 
apostle. There were in the unwritten traditions of the 

* Schaff's Bible Diet. Synagogue. 



200 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

church ; in the oral teaching as to onr Lord's life and teach- 
ings (1 Cor. 11 : 23 ; 15 : 1-8) ; as to the rules of discipline 
and worship (2 Thess. 2 : 15 ; 3 : 6) ; in ' the faithful say- 
ings ' which were received as axioms of the faith (1 Tim. 1 : 
15 ; 4 : 9 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 11 ; Titus 3 : 8), the germs at once of 
the creeds, the canons, the liturgies, the systematic theology 
of the future."^ 

" The frequent use of psalms and short forms of devotion, 
as the Lord's Prayer, may be inferred with certainty from 
the Jewish custom, from the Lord's direction respecting his 
model prayer, from the strong sense of fellowship among the 
first Christians, and finally from the liturgical spirit of the 
ancient Church, which could not have so generally prevailed, 
both in the East and the West, without some apostolic and 
post-apostolic precedent." ^ 

(3) The later worship appears in the so-called Constitu- 
tions of the Apostles, " a collection of ecclesiastical laws and 
usages which grew up gradually during the first four centu- 
ries." From them we draw a picture of a church assembly 
in the latter half of the ante-Mcene period (a.d. 100-325). 

In the middle of the church was the bishop's throne, and 
on either side of him sat the presbytery, and the deacons 
stood near at hand, in close and small girt garments. The 
laity sat on either side, the men, women, the young men, the 
young women, and the married women with children, by 
themselves. The reader stood upon some high place ; and 
after two lessons, some one sang a hymn of David, the people 
joining in the conclusion of the verses. Then a portion of 
the Acts, of Paul's Epistles, and of the Gospels was read by 
a deacon or presbyter, all standing while the Gospels were 
read. Then the presbyters, one by one, and last of all the 
bishop, exhorted the people. Then all rose up, and, after 
the catechumens and penitents and all non-communicants 
had gone out, prayed to God eastward. After this came the 
lioly kiss. Then the deacon prayed for the whole world, and 

^ riumptre's Introd. to Acts. « Schuff's Hist. Christ. Ch. i, 463. 



EABLY CHBISTIAN LITUBGIES. 201 

tlie several parts of it. This was followed by a prayer for 
peace upon the whole xoeo23le, with a blessing, and a prayer 
by the bishop ; after which came the Eucharist, no unbeliever 
or uninitiated person being allowed to be present. During the 
service a deacon was to see to it that nobody whispered, 
slumbered, laughed, or nodded.'' 

(4) The ritualistic tendency of the early days developed 
into full liturgies, three of which, in the ante-Nicene period, 
have been preserved: The Divine Liturgy of James (about 
A.D. 200), which is thirty-five octavo pages long ; The Divine 
Liturgy of Mark (about A.D. 225), twenty-five pages long; 
and the still later Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles, sixteen 
pages long.^ As they do not agree in length, so also in other 
respects, proA^ing that uniformity did not exist prior to the 
union of Church and State under ConstantiDC. With the 
incoming of the Gentile masses after the conversion of the 
Homan EmjDire came a " prodigious number of rites and cere- 
monies." "They had both a most pompous and splendid 
ritual. Gorgeous robes, miters, tiaras, wax tapers, crosiers, 
processions, lustrations, images, gold and silver vases, and 
many such circumstances of pageantry were equally to be 
seen in the heathen temples and the Christian churches."^ 
With the coming in of the papacy came greater uniformity, 
spectacular worship, fixed liturgies, and the utter perversion 
of Christian worship from its spiritual nature and true end. 

(5) The great Reformation sprang out of a different con- 
ception of the Christian Church, and changed worship as 
well as doctrine, polity, and morals, but in varying degrees. 
The Lutheran, the Anglican, and the Protestant Episcopal 
Churches, and some others, retained elaborate and fixed litur- 
gies ; but the Reformed Churches and the Puritans carried 
the reform in worship much farther. The reaction from the 
corruptions and persecutions of Rome and Canterbury drove 

7 Apostolical Constitutions, book ii, Ivii; book viii, xi. 

8 Ante-Nicene Christ. Library, T. and T. Clark's ed. 
s Mosheim's Eccl. Hist, book ii, part ii, chap, iv, § 1. 



202 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the Puritans into the extreme of ritualistic barrenness. The 
public reading of the sacred Scriptures without comment 
was stigmatized as " dumb reading," and for a time the read- 
ing of the Bible was dispensed with in the pulpit, and that 
quite recently. The sermon, without liturgy and Scripture, 
rose in dignity above worship, until, to hear the preacher 
was in thought and speech and fact the chief business in 
public worship. This introduced into the worship of God a 
most obnoxious human element. The preaching, and so the 
preacher, became the center of attraction or of repulsion;, 
that is, man, not God, received the chief honor in the sanc- 
tuary. And so it has come to pass that if the preacher is- 
popular, the church will be crowded ; if, like Paul, he is not 
attractive, — " his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of 
no account" (2 Cor. 10 : 10), — the church is largely empty. 
Church attendance depends, therefore, upon the preacher. 
Thus a personal, human element, which in the worship of 
Almighty God should have little or no place, controls largely 
church going and church worship. And so again, on the 
other hand, reaction into barrenness of ritual has perverted 
public worship from its spiritual nature and end. 

(6) A clearer conception of worship begins, however, to 
appear. The Bible has its place in the services ; responsive 
readings, praise, the Lord's Prayer, chanting, organs, in some 
cases, short liturgies, any thing that may edify in worship, 
are coming in to give variety and freshness to worship. The 
admiration of a preacher is giving place to the worship of 
God in the churches. For it is found that there is no hie- 
rarchy in an organ, nor priesthood in a liturgy, nor bondage 
in responsive readings ; but instead, edification of all classes 
and conditions of men in the worship of God. 

§ 147. This variety of services, arising from the liberty of 
independent churches, raises a question as to the value of 
liturgies in church services. This is a different question 
from that which vexed our non-conforming Puritan fathers. 
They rebelled against a fixed, complete, and enforced liturgy, 



VALUE OF LITUBOIES. 203 

covering prayers and liymns (§ 61). In our use of rituals 
and liturgies, we must not forget the price they paid for 
our liberties. We should remember : — 

(1) That no ritual or liturgy has been imj)Osed by Christ 
Jesus. This is so clearlj' the case that Dean Stanley quotes 
"the positive statement of Saint Basil, that there was no 
written authorit}^ for any of the liturgical forms of the Church 
in his time" (a.d. 329-379).^^ Had any liturgy been im- 
posed by Christ and his apostles, it would have appeared 
both in the record and in uniformity prior to the fourth and 
fifth centuries. Nor has Christ given any one the power to 
enforce liturgies. The local churches are severally independ- 
ent under Christ, and may not be brought into subjection 
to any other authority. True, the cut of a vestment is. 
nothing ; but when the state or a hierarchy attempts to en- 
force any style or form, we, like our ecclesiastical fathers, 
should remember Paul's course, and give place to them, no 
not for an hour (Gal. 2: 5). Men suffered, and some died, 
to purchase the liberty to wear or not to wear, as edification 
might determine, any form of dress, and to use or not to use 
any ritual, liturgy, service, that may meet the spiritual nature 
and end of public worship. We have entered into their 
labors: but any attempt to enforce either the most barren 
form of service or the most gorgeous liturgy, or any thing- 
between, would arouse the old Puritanic spirit, and set our 
churches in battle array against it, as of old. 

(2) Yet it must be confessed that the synagogue had its 
ritual ; that the heathen temples had their rituals ; that the 
primitive Christians consequently were used to liturgical 
worship ; that they would naturally bring it over^ in some 
of its parts, at least, unless expressly forbidden, into the 
churches ; that there is no such prohibition recorded ; that, 
on the contrary, there are supposed hints of liturgical wor- 
ship in the New Testament (Acts 2 : 42 ; 4 : 24-30 ; 1 Tim. 
3: 16); and that liturgies came early into use and have 

'0 Christ. Institutions, 52. 



204 THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

continued in use ever since in the major part, even of the 
Reformed Churches. Much may be said for them and much 
against them ; but if they were made free and short, so that 
a part of the ser^dces should be liturgical and part extempo- 
raneous, but all optional, the best results would probably 
follow. This liberty our Congregational churches enjoy, 
each one regulating its own mode of worship to suit its own 
wants, and the practice ranges from the baldest service up 
to the Book of Common Prayer. One church may be better 
edified with a liturgy, another without one, another with a 
mixture of both written and extemporaneous forms. One 
minister may excel in extempore worship, another in reading 
services. Let each minister and church study the things 
that edify and save. 

(3) - It is entirely a wrong view of the matter to identify 
liturgies with church polity. The right and power to en- 
force their use is claimed of course by centralized ecclesias- 
tical systems, but this claim is separable from the liturgies 
themselves. A Congregational church does not lose its 
independence by adopting a ritual or even the Prayer Book. 
In the exercise of that independence it controls its own wor- 
ship for its own edification. This liberty and right needs to 
be exercised by our churches until they meet all needs 
arising from the various classes, tastes, gifts, etc., of a versa- 
tile civilization. The mode that suits one church may not 
suit another ; very well, let each meet its own needs : in 
modes of worship diverse, in spirit and polity one. Not 
ecclesiastically, if historically, is it uncongregational to use 
a liturgy. The Lutherans have always had a liturgy. 

Worship is rooted deepest in renewed human nature, and 
its heaven-illumined top rises the highest of human acts. 
-Slowly, but surely, in the exercise of liberty, will the churches 
purify their worship of foreign and hindering elements, until 
those forms alone remain which conform exactly to the 
.spiritual nature and end of Christian worship. Thus shall 
the churches worship God more and more in the beauty of 
.lioliness. 



NUMBEB OF SACBAMENTS. 205 

THE CHURCH SACEAMENTS. 

§ 148. The highest part of worship centers in the sacra- 
ments. Yet Christendom is divided as to their number and 
nature. 

(1) " The Roman Church, like the Greek, reckons seven 
sacraments : that is, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, pen- 
ance, extreme unction, orders, marriage." " But the Romish 
Church does not attribute an equal dignity to all the seven." 
" The Protestant Church, including all parties, admit only 
two : baptism and the holy supper." '' The Mennonites join 
feet-washing (John 13 : 5-14) with the sacraments." ^^ 

(2) We hold the Protestant view to be correct, because 
only baptism (Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 16; John 3: 5; 
Acts 2: 38, 41; 10: 48; 22: 16) and the Lord's Supper 
(Matt. 26: 26-30; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22: 14-20; 
1 Cor. 11 : 24-26) are perpetually enjoined, and are of the 
nature of sacraments. 

(a) Confirmation is an unction, or chrism, an anointing 
from the Holy One (1 John 2 : 20, 27) or from God (2 Cor. 
1 : 21), or the conferring of the gifts of the Holy Ghost 
(Acts 8 : 17). There is nothing to indicate that it was com- 
manded, that it was designed to be continued, or that it in 
its essence has been continued. 

(6) Not a passage quoted for penance as a sacrament 
(Mark 1: 4, 5 ; Matt. 18: 18; John 20: 22, 23; 2 Cor. 7: 
10 ; Acts 10 : 43 ; Ex. 33 : 19) indicates that it is more than 
repentance and forgiveness and the apostolic power of the 
keys. 

(c) And the proofs of the sacrament of orders (1 Cor. 6 : 
1 ; Acts 20 : 28 ; Titus 1:5:1 Tim. 5 : 22) prove no more 
than this, that the Christian Church has a ministerial func- 
tion, and not that the recognition of such a ministry in 
ordination is a sacrament. 

(d) Marriage is as old as Eden, and the references to it 
relied on to prove it a Christian sacrament (Eph. 5: 31, 32; 

11 ^Yiner's Confessious of Christ. § U. 



206 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

Matt. 19: 11, 12; 1 Cor. 7: 8, 9, 32, 33, 38) have no such 
meaning. The heathen marry and are given in marriage. 

(g) There would seem to be more ground for regarding 
extreme unction as a perpetual duty, though not as a sacra- 
ment (Mark 6 : 13 ; James 5 : 14, 16), were it not for the 
fact that it refers to miraculous cures, not to an anointing 
of the dying. " The prayer of faith shall save him that is 
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up " (James 5 : 15) ; this 
is any thing but extreme unction as practised in the churches. 
Miracles were predicted soon to cease (1 Cor. 13 : 8), and 
they soon ceased. 

(/) Feet-washing as a sacrament or rite has had little 
countenance, although Christ said of it : " For I have given 
you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to 
you" (John 13: 15). The churches generally have made 
this example to cover all menial acts of service for the Mas- 
ter done in humility, and not to mean a sacrament of feet- 
washing. 

As, therefore, there is no proof that these six things — 
confirmation, penance, orders, marriage, extreme unction, 
and feet- washing — were designed to be sacraments in the 
churches, and as they in nature are unlike sacraments, Prot- 
estants rightly reject them and hold only two sacraments, 
baptism and the eucharist. 

(3) This view is confirmed by the nature of a sacrament. 
It is true that the Quakers regard the sacraments as simply 
inward spiritual rites, and not as outward, visible signs. 
They say that "baptism is not the washing of the body with 
water . . . but the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the 
hearts of all who submit thereto, refining them from the pollu- 
tions of sin. . . . That the communion of the body and blood 
of Christ is not the partaking of outward bread and wine, 
but is inward and spiritual, a real participation of his divine 
nature in measure, through faith in him and obedience to 
his Spirit in the heart." ^^ Hence it is truly said that " the 

12 Hodgson's Hist. Memoirs, 37, 38, who quotes Barklay's Apology, prop, xii, xiii. 



BAPTISM, 207 

Quakers reject both the idea and the name of sacraments." ^^ 
But all Christendom besides regard the sacraments to be out- 
ward, visible signs and seals of an inward state and relation. 
Baptism is the sign and seal of an inward spiritual cleansing, 
and hence it is called " the washing of regeneration " (Titus 
3; 5). So the eucharist expresses the communion of the 
saints with Christ, and is the sign and seal of their covenant 
relations with him. That both were regarded as outward 
and visible signs and seals is proved by the fact that the 
apostles, after the day of Pentecost, baptized all believers 
and celebrated with them the Lord's Supper. Of this there 
can be no reasonable doubt. 

BAPTISM. 

§ 149. Baptism is an outward initiatory rite standing at 
the door of the visible churches. It is the sign of spiritual 
cleansing, and so of fitness to enter into the visible household 
of saints. 

(1) Baptism supersedes circumcision as the sign and seal 
of the covenant of promise. God entered into a formal cov- 
enant with Abraham, and with his seed after him (Gen. 15: 
7-21), whose sign and seal he afterwards made to be circum- 
cision (Gen. 17 : 10-14). This " covenant confirmed be- 
forehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and 
thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to make the prom- 
ise of none effect" (Gal. 3: 17). Hence the covenant of 
promise abides still ; and if so, then its sign and seal, so that 
if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs 
according to promise (Gal. 3 : 22-29). Christ ordered all his 
disciples to be baptized (Matt. 28 : 19) ; his apostles, under 
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, set aside circumcision as no 
longer treated by Christ as the sign and seal of the covenant 
(Acts 15 : 1, 28, 29), baptism having taken its place. Paul's 
words are conclusive here : " In whom [Christ] ye were also 
circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the 

1^ Winer's Confessions of Clirist. § 14. 



208 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of 
Christ ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye 
were also raised with him through faith in the working of 
God, who raised him from the dead " (Col. 2 ; 11, 12). Thus, 
''the circumcision of Christ" is baptism, receiving which, 
one receives the sign and seal of the covenant of promise. 
The command of Peter to baptize the uncircumcised Corne- 
lius (Acts 10 : 47), instead of circumcising him, for the first- 
time indicated the supersedure of circumcision by baptism. 
The rite of blood, confined to males, was given that " Abra- 
ham might be the father of all them that believe " (Rom. 4 r 
11) ; yet believing Gentiles were only required to be baptized,, 
a sign and seal applied to males and females, Jews and Gen- 
tiles. Every-where thereafter baptism is put as the substi- 
tute for circumcision in admitting believers into covenant 
relations with God. It became, and has ever continued, the- 
initiatory rite, the sign and seal of the covenant of promise.. 

(2) Hence baptism is required of believers in Christ 
Jesus, as circumcision was required from Abraham to Pente- 
cost. The initiatory rite was an everlasting ordinance, as the 
covenant was everlasting (Gen. 17 : 13), and Christ enjoined 
its new form upon all disciples (Matt. 28 : 19 ; Mark 16 : 16), 
and no one, Jew or Gentile, joined the church after Pente- 
cost but through baptism (Acts 2 : 38, 41 ; 10 : 48 ; 22 : 16, 
etc.). Those who before that day believed were, as we have 
shown (§§ 39, 105), separated by the winno wing-fan of 
Christ into the spiritual kahal of Israel, which became on 
Pentecost the Christian ecclesia, or church-kingdom. They 
were the church, and needed not to join it. All others were 
left outside as rejected Jews or unconverted Gentiles. The 
circumcision of the rejected availed them nothing (1 Cor. 7 : 
19; Gal. 5: 6; 6: 15), and so, on believing, they renewed 
the covenant in baptism. 

(3) John's baptism was not Christian baptism. The apos- 
tles generally had been baptized unto repentance, but John 
the Baptist lived and died under the law of Moses, as Christ. 



ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN BAPTISM. 209 

himself did. The preaching and the baptism of the fore- 
runner were preparatory. This baptism unto repentance 
availed nothing under Christ. As a rite it was not enough. 
This is put beyond question by the twelve disciples whom 
Paul found at Ephesus. They had been baptized "into 
John's baptism " only, and when he knew it, he commanded 
them to be baptized also " into the name of the Lord Jesus '* 
(Acts 19: 1-7). 

Thus all believers after Pentecost entered the visible 
churches through the door of baptism. This substitute for 
circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant became the 
initiatory rite of the Christian churches. 

§ 150. But what are the essential elements of true bap- 
tism ? What constitutes valid baptism ? This is a practical 
question. 

(1) Water is the element used, and the purer the better. 
One must be "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5). 
Water was always used in baptism (Acts 8 : 36, 38; 10: 47), 
living or running water. " But if thou have not living water, 
baptize into other water ; but if thou canst not in cold, in 
warm." ^^ 

(2) There must be the intent to baptize. No mock bap- 
tism is valid. This intent ought to include all parties to the 
rite. Neither of them may be worthy, but they should reli- 
giously intend to do what they do. Yet, if the administrator 
be an impostor, or the recipient a hypocrite, if the rite be 
performed as a religious ceremony with intent of baptism, 
the baptism is valid. 

(3) Baptism must be into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; that is, it must be into the 
Trinity (Matt. 28: 19). This is twice repeated in "The 
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," in the four verses of 
the seventh chapter. Unitarian baptism is not, therefore, 
valid ; but the baptism of the Greek, the Roman Catholic, 
and all Protestant churches that use the Trinitarian formula 
is valid, if with intent. 

'* Teaching Twelve Apostles, chap. vii. 



210 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(4) Hence baptism should be but once administered. If 
one has been baptized, with intent, into the name of the 
Trinity, he should not be baptized again. Thus a Roman 
Catholic should be received without rebaptism. This is the 
almost unanimous view, though Presbyterians reject it by a 
divided vote.^^ Those not baptized into the name of Christ 
need to be so baptized (Acts 19: 4, 5). In case one has 
been baptized in infancy and desires confession in baptism, 
there is no prohibition against such rebaptism, though his 
infant baptism is valid. It is better that he be rebaptized 
than that he should be kept out of church relations. Quakers 
bave never been baptized. 

§ 151. The mode of baptism is various. The Greek 
Church uses trine immersion; all Baptist churches, and 
some others, single immersion ; the Roman Catholic Church, 
and most Protestant communions, sprinkling. The New 
Testament does not determine the mode or lay stress on it. 
" The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," which goes back 
quite, or near, to the death of the apostle John, says: "Bap- 
tize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit, in living [or running] water. But if thou have 
not living water, baptize into other water ; and if thou canst 
not in cold, in warm. But if thou have not either, pour 
out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father, 
and Son, and Holy Spirit." ^^ This confirms the view of 
church historians that " the usual form of baptism was immer- 
sion. . . . But sprinkling also, or copious pouring rather, 
was practised at an early day with sick and dying persons, 
and probably with children and others, where total or partial 
immersion was impracticable." ^'^ The mode of baptism is 
declared by God, in the gift of his Spirit in regeneration and 
sanctification and revivals, to be non-essential. The rule by 
which the apostles and the churches settled the question of 
circumcision (Acts 11 : 15-18 ; 15 : 7-11, 24-29) settles also 

15 Moore's Presby. Digest (1873), 660; Hodge's Church Polity, 196, seq. 

" Chap. vii. " SchalFs ffist. Christ. Ch. i, 468, 469. 



MODE OF BAPTISM. 211 

the question of the mode of baptism. Indeed, that rule re- 
mands the dispute as to the mode to the limbo of dead 
issues. And we may say to those who insist that immersion 
-alone is baptism, what Peter said to the Judaizing Christians 
in the council at Jerusalem : '• Why tempt ye God, that ye 
should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples?" since 
God makes "no difference between us and them, cleansing 
their hearts by faith" (Acts 15: 9, 10). As all modes are 
thus recognized by God as valid, churches should not scruple 
to baptize by immersion or affusion or sprinkling, as the sub- 
ject may desire. 

§ 152. There is still an unended controversy over the 
subjects of baptism. 

(1) All are agreed that unbaptized converts should be 
baptized before admission to church privileges. All com- 
munions, except the Quakers, make baptism the indispensa- 
ble initiatory rite into membership. 

(2) The infant children of believers should be baptized. 
Here lies the contention, the Baptist churches on one side, 
all other communions on the other side and in favor of such 
baptism. If baptism takes the place of circumcision, as we 
have stated (§ 149 : 1), then infant baptism follows logically, 
as the children are included with their parents in the terms 
of the covenant of grace. The Baptists reject infant baptism 
on the ground that it wants positive commandment and tends 
to corrupt the churches. Other communions believe in and 
practise it on the ground that no positive command is needed, 
since baptism takes the place of circumcision, as Sunday 
takes the place of the Sabbath, without positive command- 
ment. On the same principle, no command was given to 
baptize children, because the covenant itself applied its seal 
to children by express command (Gen. IT : 12) ; and because 
Paul puts all Christians under the Abrahamic covenant (Gal. 
3: 7, 29). In harmony therewith we read of the bap- 
tism of households (Acts 16 : 15, 33 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 16), and 
the express teaching : " For the unbelieving husband is sane- 



212 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

tified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in 
the brother : else were your children unclean ; but now are 
they holy " (1 Cor. 7 : 14). It does not appear easy to break 
this chain, when we add to it the words of the Master : 
" Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto 
me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19: 14). 
This is confirmed by the silence of the early Christian 
writers. Infant baptism seems to have displaced infant cir- 
cumcision so naturally that when it for the first time is re- 
ferred to by them, it is neither attacked nor defended, as if 
it were a new and unusual thing, but instead, is spoken of as 
a common practice. Tertullian (a.d. 145-220) says that 
" the delay of baptism is preferable ; principally, however, 
in the case of little children." ^^ Later, infant baptism is en- 
joined : " Do you also baptize your infants, and bring them 
up in the nurture and admonition of God." ^^ Liberty,*how- 
ever, should be allowed on this point, both of belief and of 
practice. 

(3) The children of other than pious parents may not be 
baptized. This is the position of the Reformed Churches, 
since they regard baptism as the sign and seal of covenant 
relations, which makes their children alone holy (1 Cor. 7 : 
14) ; 20 and it is the position of our churches.^^ Those not 
in covenant relations with God can not of course claim or 
share in the promises, nor properly engage to train their 
children in " the chastening and admonition of the Lord " 
(Eph. 6:4). Their unbelief does not sanctify their seed. 
The Roman Catholics, believing that baptism is necessary 
unto salvation, permit the children of those outside their 
communion to be baptized, and that, too, in peril, by any 
body. Some Lutherans hold that all children are by birth, 
through the abounding grace of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 5: 
12-21), brought into covenant relations with God, and con- 
sequently are entitled to the sign and seal in baptism, what- 

18 On Baptism, xviii. i" Apostolical Constitutions, book vi, chap. xv. 

20 Moore's Presby. Digest, 663, 664. 21 Camb. Confession, chap, xxix, 4. 



INFANT BAPTISM AND CHUBCH MEMBEBSHIP. 213 

ever their parents may be. Hence they would baptize all 
infants. If any do not grow up to be true disciples, it is 
because they have apostatized. It is not wise to press the 
position of the Reformed Churches with such rigor as not to 
baptize dying children of believing parents who are not 
members, but who stand ready to become members. Yet an 
indiscriminate baptism of infants is unwarranted and perni- 
cious, and should therefore be avoided. 

§ 153. The relation of baptized children to the Church is 
of great importance, since a false relation easily corrupts the 
churches and becomes the strong argument of the oppo- 
nents of infant baptism. Historically, infant baptism has 
corrupted the churches. But does the normal relation of 
baptized children to the churches corrupt the churches and 
fill them with unconverted members ? We believe not. But, 
in answer, let us consider the actual and possible relations of 
baptized children to the churches. 

(1) It might be held that baptism makes children full 
members in the church and entitles them to all the rights 
and privileges of the church. This would seem to be the 
view of the Greek Church, which administers the eucharist 
to babies ; but still it holds to the sacrament of confirmation. 
The same would seem to follow from the doctrine of baptis- 
mal regeneration, since confirmation is reduced by that doc- 
trine from a testing as to the fitness of the candidates and 
approval of the worthy, to a formal ceremony, the candidates 
having been already fitted for the visible Church by baptismal 
regeneration. Still, confirmation is held and practised where 
baptismal regeneration is taught,^ perhaps as an ancient and 
episcopal recognition of said regeneration. 

22 The Trinity Church Catechism teaches respecting baptism : — 
" What are we made thereby ? 

Members of Christ's body, the Church. 

What is the result of this ? 

We become God's adopted children, and heirs of heaven. 

Andiohnt else? 

We are cleansed from sin, and our bodies are made temples of the Holy Ghost," 
p. 47. 



214 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(2) Baptism with confirmation makes children full mem- 
bers of the Church. Here confirmation is separated from 
baptism, and is to be applied to youth, on approval. With 
those who hold to baptismal regeneration, it is a rite for the 
invigoration of the spiritual life begun in baptism as the 
effect of baptism, and should be administered to all baptized 
children as the logical consequence of baptism, bringing 
them into full membership in the visible Church. This 
theory of baptism and confirmation would put all the chil- 
dren of Christian parents into the Church, good and bad, 
alike, and has been one of the chief causes of the corruption 
of the churches in past and present times. By it the whole 
population soon becomes church members, while bearing few 
or none of the fruits of faith and the Spirit (Matt. 7 : 15-23 ; 
Gal. 5: 22-24). The charge that infant baptism corrupts. 
the churches finds here its cause and ample justification. 

But there might be a sufficient guard to purity here, if 
confirmation should be made a proper test of religious faith 
and experience, as it could easily be made. If at the proper 
age of discretion, candidates were to be examined as to the 
fact of a changed heart and life, and admitted or rejected ac-^ 
cording to the evidence, confirmation added to infant baptism 
would in such case be as sure a guard to purity as a similar- 
testing without infant baptism could possibly be. 

(3) Baptism makes children presumptive members of the 
church, so that, if free from scandal and possessed of suffi- 
cient intelligence, they may become full members. This is 
the position of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. 
*' Children born within the pale of the visible Church, and 
dedicated to God in baptism, are under the inspection and. 
government of the Church. . . . And when they come to 
years of discretion, if they be free from scandal, appear sober 
and steady, and to have sufficient knowledge to discern the 
Lord's body, they ought to be informed it is their duty and 
privilege to come to the Lord's Supper." ^^ For " all baptized,. 

23 Presby. Directory for Worship, chap, ix, 1. 



IXFAXT BAPTISM AXD CHURCH MEMBER SHIP. 215 

persons are members of the church, are under its care and 
subject to its care and discipline ; and when they have ar- 
rived at the years of discretion, they are bound to perform 
all the duties of church members."-^ These baptized chil- 
dren, who are members of the church, are not required to 
"make a public profession of their faith in the presence of 
the congregation." for only unbaptized persons are required 
to do this.^-^ This position rests on the church membership 
of baptized children and on the presumption that they are^ 
unless scandalous, regenerate persons, fit at discretion for full 
communion and membership. It has proved no better guard 
than confirmation, except where modified, as among the Xew 
School Presbyterians in this country, by another theory. At 
this point of the relation of baptized children to the Church, 
the Congregational churches took decided and radical issue 
with the Presbyterians. They did not hold such children to 
be in full membership, nor that they were presumptively re- 
generate persons, nor that they should be admitted to church 
privileges without public profession : but they held that : — 

(4) Baptism with public confession of Christ makes them 
fall church members. The children, in virtue of the cove- 
nant, may receive the sign and seal ; but because the Church 
is a spiritual body whose members are holy (§ 94), the bap- 
tized children, like the unbaptized adults, "must credibly 
show and profess their own repentance towards God and faith 
towards our Lord Jesus Christ, before they come to the 
Lord's table, or are recognized as members in full commu- 
nion " ; '• and otherwise they are not to be admitted there- 
unto.'' -^ This has been the Congregational position from 
the beginning, except as partially suspended for a brief 
period by what is known as the Half-way Covenant. This 
position regards baptized children as children of the Church, 
not as full meml3ers. until they give credible proof of con- 

2* Presby. Discipline, chap, i, vi. 

-5 Presby. Directory of Worship, chap, ix, iv. 

2« Camb. Plat, xii, 7; Bostx>n Plat. part, ii, chap, vii, 4. 



216 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

version and publicly confess Clirist. No church requires 
more than this for adult baptism. Hence no guard to purity 
can be stronger than this. Nor is this a recently assumed 
position. It is one of the points that divided the Congrega- 
tionalists and Presbyterians from the beginning. It separates 
the former also from all other old communions. 

(5) The only remaining relation of children to the Church 
is that of consecration in baptism. This consecration gives 
no membership in the Church, but leaves the children in this 
regard as though they had not been baptized. This conse- 
cration seems foreign to the covenant of grace. Infant bap- 
tism is more than this, or it is not baptism. 

(6) The Baptist position that children hold no relation to 
the Church of God is contrary to the covenant which binds 
the three dispensations into one. That covenant from the 
beginning embraced the seed of the pious. It was expressly 
made to embrace them when renewed with Abraham, and 
later with the children of Israel at Sinai. Children are not 
expressly excluded from, but are presumptively included in, 
the covenant which is continued into and completed in the 
Christian dispensation. This presumption has convinced the 
vast majority of Christian churches that God cares still for 
the children of his people. 

This beautiful rite of infant baptism need not subvert the 
holy nature of the churches. The cliildren thus presented 
are not made church members, can not become full members 
until they publicly profess their faith in Christ ; yet they are 
the children of the Church, to be enrolled, watched over, and 
cared for, trained up for Christ, and so fitted for the public 
confession. It is needful, therefore, that a church keep a roll 
of its baptized children, and provide special means for their 
Christian nurture. 

THE lord's supper. 

§ 154. The second sacrament of the churches is the 
Lord's Supper, or the eucharist, the communion. It is called 



THE LOBD'S SUPPER. 217 

^' the Lord's Supper " (1 Cor. 11 : 20) because it is eating and 
■drinking together as the Lord ordained. It was early named 
the eucharist,^' from the prayers of thanksgi^dng that precede 
it. It is also called the communion, or the holy communion, 
because it is the communion of the body and blood of Christ 
(1 Cor. 10 : 16), and the fellowship of believers together and 
with their Head. Each name brings into prominence some 
■essential element of the feast, and is therefore appropriate. 

(1) It is the ordinance that commemorates the dying love 
and sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world. It is not 
a sacrifice or a bloodless propitiatory offering up of the body 
and blood of Christ (§112: 4). It should never therefore 
be spoken of as the mass or a sacrifice. It is a memorial 
feast; for in it we ''proclaim the Lord's death till he come." 
It is also a sign and seal of the covenant of promise. Hence 
it is enjoined as a perpetual requirement (1 Cor. 11 : 25, 26). 

(2) This sacrament supersedes the passover. It was in- 
stituted when Jesus had eaten the Jewish feast with the 
Twelve and the traitor had withdrawn (Matt. 26 : 20 ; Mark 
14: 20; John 13: 30; Matt. 26: 26-29). Christ was him- 
self the Paschal Lamb sacrificed for sin (John 1 : 29 ; 1 Cor. 
5: 7). The passover as a sacrifice was fulfilled and abol- 
ished in his death ; but as a feast of thankful commemora- 
tion, it is still continued in the Lord's Supper. 

(3) Unlike baptism, this sign and seal of the covenant is 
to be often repeated ; but how often has not been revealed. 
" As often as " implies, however, frequency. It was at the 
first probably observed daily, then weekly. In some 
churches it is now celebrated weekly ; in others, monthly ; 
in others, bi-monthly ; but in others less frequently. A bi- 
monthly observance avoids the evils of a too common 
observance and the evils of infrequent communions. 

(4) The elements to be used in the eucharist are bread 
and the juice of the grape. Christ used, we believe, un- 
leavened bread and wine. Leavened bread is now generally 

-~' Teachiug Twelve Apostles, chap, ix; Ignatius, Ep. Pliil. iv. 



218 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

used, and wine or the unfermented juice of the grape^ 
Christ in instituting the supper did not use the word wine^ 
Nothing but the juice of the grape in wine or in some other 
form should ever be employed, never water or any other 
liquid. 

(5) The mode of celebrating the eucharist is quite diverse^ 
although the way Christ instituted it is well-nigh certain. 
He was in an upper room, reclining with the eleven at a table 
in the ordinary mode of eating at that time. Why such 
stress is laid on the mode of baptism, when that mode is not 
specified, and so little stress is laid on the mode of the eu- 
charist, when that mode is well-nigh certain, seems indeed 
strange. Yet Baptists do not recline when they celebrate. 
They, with others, sit in pews ; others partake standing or 
kneeling ; none reclining. The mode has in all cases been 
changed, but the substance has been retained. The bread 
and the cup in all communions but that of the Quakers 
" proclaim the Lord's death till he come." 

(6) The sacrament was instituted in two kinds, was com- 
manded in both the bread and the cup (Matt. 26 : 27 ; Mark 
14 : 23 ; 1 Cor. 11 : 26), and should be administered to all in 
both kinds. " It was the frequent accidental spilling of 
drops of wine at the eucharist that first led to the withhold- 
ing of the cup from the laity." ^ So also the non-ofQciating 
Roman priests only partake in one kind.^^ Protestants are 
right in returning to the way commanded by the Master of 
the feast. 

§ 155. The question about who may commune in this 
most holy sacrament has more vital bearings than might be 
supposed. It needs, therefore, careful examination. 

(1) Communicants are regulated by different conditions 
in the various communions. Neither the Roman Catholics 
nor the Baptists extend the privileges of this sacrament be- 
yond their own membership. They are close communionists. 

28 Fisher's Discussions in Hist, and Theol. 60. 

29 Winer's Conf. Christendom, 278. 



TEBM8 OF COMMUNION. 219 

TMs is probably true also of the Greek Church, the Ritual- 
ists, and some others. Other churches hold intercommunion 
at the table of the Lord, inviting members of other denomi- 
nations to partake with them. But all exclude unbelievers, 
heretics, excommunicates, and, except the Greek Church, 
infants. 

(2) They agree in requiring the following things as con- 
ditions of participation : — 

(a) The communicant must, in the eye of charity, be 
a believer in Christ. He must by faith be a member of the 
body of Christ, a citizen of the church-kingdom. The com- 
munions differ widely as to this faith or belief and its proof, 
but all communicants must possess it in some degree and 
form. To an unbeliever it may be a memorial, but it can 
not be a communion. Faith is essential. 

(5) Baptism is also a necessary preliminary of the eu- 
charist. It is made the first outward duty of the believer 
(Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 16; Acts 2: 38, 41; 8: 38; 9: 
18; 10: 48; 16: 15, 33; 19: 4, 5). "Baptism was, by 
divine precept, the necessary condition of entrance into the 
Christian Church," says the Roman Catholic historian,. 
AlzogP " Christians of every name, from the apostolic age 
to the present, with hardly a dissentient voice, have declared 
baptism to be a prerequisite of the eucharist." " In no case 
is the Lord's Supper put before baptism, in no case does the 
narrative recognize any interval between faith and baptism 
to be filled by the Lord's Supper." ^^ 

(c) Church membership is implied in baptism as a condi- 
tion indispensable for partaking of the emblems. Believers- 
were added to the churches by baptism. That rite admitted 
them to visible membership therein. "In no case are be- 
lievers brought into the church and afterwards baptized." 
"Uniting with a local church is, therefore, the immediate 
sequence and, as it were, the natural counterpart of the 
baptismal vow."^ 

30 Universal Ch. mst. i, § 55, 277. 3i 19 Bib. Sacra, 145, 151. 32 i^id. 145, 153. 



220 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

((7) These three conditions are confirmed by reference to 
the Jewish passover, which the Lord's Supper supplanted 
and continues. The passover was instituted at the begin- 
ning of the exodus, B.C. 1491, or 1648. Only full members 
of the kahal^ or congregation, of Israel could partake of the 
passover. " A sojourner and an hired servant shall not eat 
thereof. . . . All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And 
when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the 
passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and 
then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one 
that is born in the land : but no uncircumcised person shall 
eat thereof. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and 
unto the stranger that sojourneth among you " (Ex. 12 : 45- 
49). Faith is here required, for the passover must be kept 
"to the Lord," circumcision, and full membership in the 
congregation of Israel, for the circumcised stranger became 
as one born in the land. No one could thus partake of the 
passover who wished, until he had complied with the initia- 
tory rite, which also involved belief in the God of the Jews 
and admitted to the hahal of Israel. Females are included 
in the consecration and circumcision of the males. 

(3) These terms, or conditions, are confirmed by the Scrip- 
tures and history. Here we may note : — 

(a) That Jiidas Iscariot ate the passover with Christ, but 
withdrew before the institution of the Lord's Supper (Matt. 
26: 20; Mark 14: 17; John 13: 30; Matt. 26: 26-29). 
This seems to have been the order of events as held by the 
ablest harmonists and commentators. Thus we are relieved 
of the repugnant thought that the traitor partook of the 
sacrament of the supper with the Betrayed. The guiltiest 
of men did not probably mar with his presence this holiest 
of rites. 

(5) Thft primitive churches excluded from the room all 
who were not full church members. " But let no one eat 
•or drink of your eucharist, except those baptized into the 
name of the Lord; for as regards this, the Lord hath said: 



TEEMS OF COMMUNION. 221 

' Give not that which is holy to the dogs.' '" ^ Justin Martyr 
(a.d. 110-165) says : '• And this food is called among us 
Eueharistia^ of which no one is allowed to partake but the 
man who believes that the things which we teach are true, 
and who has been washed with the washing that is for the 
remission of sIds and unto regeneration, and who is so living 
as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and com- 
mon drink do we receive them." ^ The Divine Liturgy of 
James excludes catechumens, the unbaptized, and all unable 
to join in the prayers, from the room where the eucharist 
is celebrated. An inspection of those present was required.^ 
So the Apostolical Constitutions (a.d. 200-400) says : " But 
we do not receive them to communion until they have received 
the seal of baptism and are made complete Christians."^ 
" Let the door be watched, lest any unbeliever, or one not 
yet initiated, come in." ^~ " Those that first come to the 
mystery of godliness (the eucharist), let them be brought 
to the bishop, or to the presbytery, by the deacons, and let 
them be examined as to the causes wherefore they come to 
the Word of the Lord ; and let tliose that bring them exactly 
inquire about their character, and give them their testi- 
mony."^ This examination is then detailed. 

(c) This position is confirmed by the nature of the case, 
both as to privileges and as to discipline. The prime condi- 
tion of the existence and prosperity of any organized society 
is that it furnishes its members privileges which it neither 
offers to others nor permits them to share. All organizations 
rest on this common-sense principle, and the primitive 
churches guarded their most sacred privileges even from the 
gaze of all not in full membersliip, as a thing demanded, as 
the condition of their continuance and growth. The require- 
ments of discipline demand the same. If a church excom- 
municate a member, it not only nullities its action, but stulti- 



33 Teaching Twelve Apostles, chap. ix. ^ Apol. i, chap. Ixvi. 

35 § 16. SB Book ii, chap, xxxix. s^ iijid. Mi. 

38 Ibid, book viii, chap, xxxii. 



222 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

fies itself, if such an excommunicate be permitted to come 
to the Lord's table the same as before. To permit him to 
commune would turn discipline into a farce ; and yet some 
have presumed to set Scripture, history, and common sense 
aside, and opened the door to all who desire to commune. 
This position logically ends in one of two things : either in 
the extinction of the churches that adopt it, or in turning 
them into parish churches, including the whole community of 
worshipers as members.^^ 

(c?) In 1865 our churches in National Council re-affirmed 
the position taken in 1648, in the Cambridge Platform, and 
declared that not only unbaptized adults, but also baptized 
children, " must credibly show and profess their own repent- 
ance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, 
before they come to the Lord's table." ^ A few churches 
have foolishly ventured to open the table of our Lord to all 
who claim to love him. The result will be evil, and only 
evil. Even in the case of fresh converts, it is better for their 
Christian nurture that they wait in patience until they can 
commune in an orderly way, than that the church should 
set them an example of disorder on the threshold of their 
entrance into it. They should be taught that the good order 
of the church is more than their convenience, not that 
their convenience is to override church rules or necessary 
usages. 

(4) But these terms or conditions of communion — faith, 
baptism, church membership — may not be increased. They 
can not be enlarged at pleasure. No church can rightly bar 
from its communion by unscriptural tests, — such as total 

39 The Arlington Street Unitarian Cliurch of Boston, in 1870, opened the eucharist to 
all Avho wished to commune, whether members of any church or not. But for thirteen 
years no one joined the said church; and to prevent its members from becoming too 
few to administer certain trust funds, it voted, in 1884, that all persons of full age who 
habitually attended its services should be regarded as members, and should have their 
names entered on the roll of the church as full members, unless they declined to be so 
enrolled.— The Congregationalist, May 15, 1884. This is the logical end of such loose- 
ness. Hence the communions which have opened this sacrament to all report not 
♦' churches," but " societies," their churches having largely become parish societies. 

40 Boston Plat, part ii, vii, 4. 



TEEMS OF COMMUNION. 223 

abstinence, the singing of the Psalms only in church worship, 
the immersion of believers in baptism, and the like, — for 
•such legislation has not been granted it. The Lord and 
King can alone make laws for the guidance of his own. 
Churches have no right therefore to exclude from their com- 
munion the members of other churches which God recognizes 
-as his churches by the gift of the Holy Spirit. If God never 
recognized as his, by re^avals and the fruits of the Holy 
Spirit, churches that sing hymns, or used intoxicating liquors, 
or baptized by sprinkling or pouring, then his true churches 
would be justified in imposing such terms as tests of com- 
munion ; but since God makes no such distinction, his 
churches should not. This reasoning is Scriptural, reason- 
able, and conclusive. It is that which was used in settling 
the dispute about circumcision in the days of the apostles. 
When Peter was brought before the church at Jerusalem for 
his "vdsit to the Roman Cornelius, he vindicated himself by 
his vision, and by the fact that God gave unto the uncircum- 
cised the like gift as he did unto the circumcised, and asked : 
" Who was I, that I could withstand God ? " (Acts 11 : 1-18). 
The controversy that caused the council at Jerusalem was 
settled on the same principle exactly, that God, in the gift of 
his Spirit, " made no distinction between " the one side and 
the other, cleansing the hearts of all by faith (Acts 15 : 9, 
28, 29). So we say to all who insist on tests which God 
■does not command or regard: ''Why tempt ye God in so 
doing ? " And there is no answer ; for God knows the hearts 
of men and the bearing of acts, and where he makes no dis- 
tinction his churches can claim no right to make one. When 
God makes immersion necessary unto the gift of his Spirit, 
liis churches may make it necessary unto communion ; but 
not till then. And so of all other terms of communion. 

This argument covers all doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and 
polities. It covers also all organizations and unorganized 
l)elievers. At first the test was more easily applied than 
afterwards, for the gift of the Spirit was then attended with 



224 THE OHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

miraculous powers (Acts 2 : 4 ; 8 : 17-19), but not in later 
times. Yet here time reveals the gift of the Spirit in revi- 
vals and graces, or the absence of these shows that the Spirit 
is withheld. 

§ 156. The invitation to the eucharist should be con- 
formed to these terms or prerequisites. It should include 
only such as have confessed their love for Christ in baptism 
and are in orderly connection with some evangelical church. 
The invitation should not ignore faith, baptism, and church 
membership, but treat them all as prerequisites. 

(1) This is the common invitation : " All members in 
good standing in sister and evangelical churches are cor- 
dially invited to commune with us," or words to the same 
effect. It should have regard for three essential things : (a) 
church membership, which implies faith and baptism ; (J) the; 
evangelical faith ; and (<?) church discipline. 

But it is sometimes said that the table is the Lord's, and 
that therefore whosoever will may freely partake. But the- 
Church is also the Lord's, and on the same principle any body 
and every body may join it, without conditions, who will.. 
The communion table is no more the Lord's than the local 
church. The Lord has imposed conditions for admission to 
each (§§ 94: 2 (6); 155: 2), and it is the duty of every 
church to enforce them. Unless a church can open its doors- 
to every body, it can not its communion table. It has the 
same right and power of exclusion from one as from the 
other. If no restriction can be placed on communicants,, 
none can be or will be placed on membership. If the respon- 
sibility be thrown upon each individual to commune or not,, 
as he likes, then the Church vacates its divine authority and 
admits excommunicates, those who deny the Lord that bought 
them with his precious blood, and infidels, to its holiest, 
act of communion and worship. It is no justification for the 
Church to say : " The fault is not ours, but that of the un- 
worthy communicant" ; for the fault lies partly in the invita- 
tion it gives. It is not only the right, but also the duty, of 



INVITATION TO THE SUPPEB. 225 

a church to use the authority given it in keeping its highest 
act of worship free from the enemies of the cross of Christ, 
as the apostles and primitive churches did ; and it must not 
open the door by its invitation to such enemies. 

(2) Nor can the pastor presume to control the invitation 
to the eucharist. He is not the church ; he is not greater 
than the church. He has no right to alter or set aside the 
customary invitation of a church to the supper, much less 
the Scriptural conditions of communion. If a pastor usurp 
such authority, the church should at once curb his papal 
pretensions, 

A church should control its invitation to the Lord's Supper, 
and should make it conform to the prerequisites above given, 
and allow no pastor to alter or neglect said invitation.^i 

§ 157. The question, Who shall administer the sacra- 
ments? has very important ecclesiastical bearings. Does 
their efficacy depend upon the administrator ? and, if so, in 
what sense ? 

(1) In ordinary circumstances ordained ministers should 
administer the sacraments. There is, in the churches a 
ministerial function (§ 113), recognized by the churches 
in ordination (§ 121), and good order requires that those 
thus recognized should ordinarily administer both sacra- 
ments. " The ministerial authority committed to the pastor- 
ate consists, on Romish and Protestant principles, in the 
preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacra- 
ments,"^ etc. "The mother confession of Protestantism" 
declares " that no man should publicly in the church teach, 
or administer the sacraments, except he be rightly called." ^^ 
Our platforms teach that the work of the ministry is, among 
other things, "to administer the seals of that covenant, unto 
the dispensation whereof they are alike called;"^ "to ad- 
minister the sacraments." ^^ All the communions which 
believe in a ministerial function recognized in ordination 

" 20 Cong. Quarterly, 275, seq. 42 Winer's Confessions of Christ. § 20. 

*•■ Au-sbiu-g Conf. xiv. " Camb. Plat, vi, 5. *•''' Boston Plat, part ii, iv, 4. 



226 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

liold also that " it is a matter of propriety and order that the 
sacraments should be administered by those only who have 
been duly called and appointed to that service." ^ 

The apostles seem to have left baptism largely to others 
to administer (Acts 10 : 48 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 17), as Christ had 
left it to his disciples (John 4:2); for their chief business 
was preaching and founding churches, not in baptizing con- 
Terts. They committed the administration of the sacraments 
to the ordinary and permanent ministry, with whom it has 
since remained. 

(2) Yet laymen may sometimes administer the sacraments. 
Deacons, Presbyterian ruling elders, and licentiates are lay- 
men ; and they, as also other laymen, may sometimes, in 
emergencies, administer. Tertullian (a.d. 145-220) said: 
"Besides these [bishops, presbyters, and deacons], even lay- 
men have the right [to baptize] ; for what is equally received 
can be equally given. . . . The word of the Lord ought not 
to be hidden by any ; in like manner, too, baptism, which is 
equally God's property, can be administered by all." *^ Hatch 
sa3'S : " Baptism by an ordinary member of the church was 
held to be valid." "The functions which the officers per- 
formed were such as, apart from the question of order, might 
be performed by any member of the community." ^^ 

(3) The validity and efficacy of the sacraments do not 
depend on the administrator. This is admitted by all com- 
munions. " The Roman and Greek Churches permit, under 
pressing circumstances, baptism by mnordained hands, includ- 
ing those of the midwife, or even of persons not Christian, 
as Jews, infidels, and heretics. The Reformed Church has 
declared against this baptism in distress." ^^ "Lutherans 
and Reformed agree in teaching that the efficacy of the sacra- 
ments does not depend on any thing in him who administers 
them." ^ The communions that regard the ministry as a 

*8 Hodge's System. Theology, ill, 514. ^^ On Baptism, xvii. 

" Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 115, 123. 49 Winer's Conf . Christ, xx. 

■^'0 Hodge's System. Theology, iii, 514. 



LAYMEK MAT ADMINISTEB. 227 

priesthood, the communion table an altar, and the bread and 
wine a veritable propitiatory sacrifice, permit only priestly 
hands to administer the eucharist ; and Protestants generally 
hold that, while the efficacy of a sacrament does not depend 
on the administrator, good order requires that laymen ad- 
minister only under the following conditions : — 

(a) There must be some pressing exigency demanding 
extraordinary relief. No gulf could be wider than that put 
by the Roman Catholic Church between its priesthood and 
its laity; yet, its doctrine that baptism is necessary unto 
salvation,^^ allows, in case of imminent death, that gulf to be 
bridged, so that women, Jews, heretics, and infidels may ad- 
minister valid baptism. The exigency here is the eternal 
loss of a soul, unless such baptism be administered, though 
it be that of a babe a few minutes old. There is no such 
pressing exigency among Protestants, who reject the Romish 
dogma of infant damnation in all cases where baptism is not 
administered ; but there may arise circumstances which war- 
rant lay administration. The inconvenience of a delay or an 
exchange, or both, does not, however, create such exigency. 
A licentiate should exchange rather than administer, even 
though the eucharist be postponed for a Sunday or two. 
The Pilgrims at Plymouth are a worthy example. They 
waited nearly five years without the sacraments before they 
wrote their pastor in Holland about the propriety of their 
ruling elder administering the sealing ordinances. John 
Robinson replied to Brewster : " I judge it not la^vful for 
you — being a ruling elder — ... as opposed to the elders 
that teach and labor in word and doctrine — to which the 
sacraments are annexed — to administer them [the sacra- 
ments], nor convenient [expedient], if it were lawful." ^^ 
This patient waiting exhibits a strength of character and 
adhesion to principle which made that Pilgrim church a pat- 
tern and model for all the churches of the Bay Colony, and 

51 Council of Trent, on Baptism, canon v. 

52 Quoted from Dr. Bacon's Genesis of New England Churches, 402, 403. 



228 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

whose "form of worship" the churches of Massachusetts 
" universally followed." ^^ 

(5) The church must recognize this exigency and empower 
a layman to administer. When an emergency or exigency 
arises the church will know it, and, after due patience, if it 
be not removed, the church can, by vote or general consent, 
empower a layman to administer baptism or the eucharist, 
or both ; but no licentiate or deacon or other layman should 
presume to administer on his own option. The emergency 
must be sufficient, in the judgment of the membership, to 
justify the departure from the usual order ; lest a division of 
opinion disturb the peace of the church.^ 

(4) It was not essential to the validity of circumcision 
that it be performed by a priest, and no priest was required 
to be present at the eating of the passover, and no priest was 
present at the synagogue worship ; and in the churches of 
Christ no ordained ministry is essential for their worship, 
or for baptism, or for the eucharist. Yet, as Christ has ap- 
pointed a ministerial function in his churches, and calls men 
to exercise that function, and has given his churches the 
right to recognize those he calls in ordination, good order 
and propriety require that public worship, baptism, and the 
Lord's Supper be committed into the hands of this ministry, 
except in the most pressing exigencies. 

53 Hutchinson's mst. Mass. i, 369. 
64 See 17 Cong. Quarterly, 525, seq. 



LECTURE IX. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — DISCIPLINE. 

" Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye lohich are spirit- 
ual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; looking to thyself, lest thou 
also he iewipfecZ." — Saint Paul. 

" If any one cometh unto you, and hringeth not this teaching, receive him 
not into your house, and give him no greeting : for he that giveth him greet- 
ing partaketh in his evil works.'^ — Saint John. 

§ 158. In a chTirch society with, members, officers, wor- 
ship, sacraments, limitations of action, it is manifest that the 
divine instructions respecting its nature, materials, manage- 
ment, and relations need to be gathered into a creed, cove- 
vant, and rules, which maj be called its book of discipline. 
Such a standard promotes not only decorum, but also justice, 
purity, peace, and efficiency. If the discipline be not formu- 
lated in some recognized standard, confusion and decay fol- 
low. That standard may be written or traditional, long or 
short, rigid or free ; but no church can long sur^dve without 
such recognized rules of procedure. We call such standard 
the discipline of that church. It includes the general man- 
agement as well as the dealing with offences, and may conse- 
quently be divided into two departments. 

So uniformity of procedure among churches is desirable; 
not an enforced uniformity such as drove our ecclesiastical 
fathers out of England, but a voluntary uniformity, such as 
independent, yet affiliated, churches may agree upon. Other- 
wise unnecessary confusion arises. Thus, though fleeing from 
enforced uniformity, the General Court of the Colony of the 
Massachusetts Bay, in 1635, entreated " the elders and breth- 
ren of every church within this jurisdiction" "to consult and 
advise of one uniform order of discipline in the churches, 
agreeable to the Scriptures, and then to consider how far the 



230 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

magistrates are bound to interpose for the preservation of 
that uniformity and peace of the churches." ^ 

§ 159. The general conduct of the affairs of a church 
comes under the comprehensive name discipline. We may- 
notice briefly a few things here. 

(1) The order of church services concerns the church 
more vitally than many imagine. As those services are for 
edification (§ 144 : 2), and not for the convenience of the 
pastor, it is for the church to determine what shall go into 
the order of worship, and how that order shall be arranged. 
No material change should be made in that order without 
the vote of the church. 

(2) So the times of regular and special meetings, whether 
for worship or for business, should be fixed by the church — 
regular meetings by rule, and special meetings by vote ; so 
that the church will feel that such meetings are theirs, to be 
attended and sustained. 

(3) The pastor is the presiding officer in all church meet- 
ings that do not concern himself. Meetings held about a 
call, discipline, dismissal, and salary of a pastor are matters 
in which the pastor is so intimately concerned that pro- 
priety forbids his presiding while they are under considera- 
tion. The pastor needs to be versed in parliamentary usages, 
that he may observe the rules that make for peace. If he 
trample on rules of order, he thereby trains the church to 
lawlessness. Instead, he should train all to do the business 
of the church in a legal way. Hence the church should 
adopt rules to guide him. 

The church should adopt and give to every member and 
officer rules for their guidance, called standing rules, defining 
what, when, and how business should be done. And such 
rules ought to be scrupulously observed in times of peace, 
that they may be observed in times of trouble; for rules- 
broken in peace can not be enforced in strife. A church well 
disciplined in this regard is like a ship manned by trained 
men, able to weather storms that wreck others. 

1 Records of the Colony, i, 143. 



STANDING BULES. 231 

(4) The importance of regularity in all business meetings 
of the church needs to be emphasized. These meetings 
ought not to depend upon the presence of a pastor, but be 
held whether he be present or not, whether the church has a 
pastor or not. Most unhappily the thought of some churches 
is so centered on their pastors that the church, as an organi- 
zation, has httle consideration. The church becomes a con- 
gregation, to do as the pastor wills without regard to its 
standing rules or organic interests. This is so common that 
for a church to assert its right to determine its rules, worship, 
and affairs is sometimes regarded by a pastor as cause for 
resigning. Yet the church, not the pastor, is clothed with 
the power of government. Where there is a dual organiza- 
tion, a church and its ecclesiastical society, there is great 
danger that the church will fail in organic development and 
regularity of procedure. The society, in fact, absorbs in 
some instances the functions of the church, so that church 
officers are elected by the secular society and all church 
business meetings cease to be held. If such cases are rare, 
they are numerous enough to warn against the fatal neglect. 
The efficiency and prosperity and peace of a church are 
largely dependent upon its thorough organization and prompt 
attention to business matters. Hence churches, like regi- 
ments of the great Captain's army, should be trained by 
their officers into such discipline that all things will be done 
decently and in order, whether they have pastors or not. 

But church discipline is more specifically and generally 
confined to 

DEALING WITH OFFENDEKS. 

§ 160. And here certain preliminary matters need to be 
considered. 

(1) The mode of discipline will be determined by the 
theory of the church which is held. As there are four such 
theories (§§ 44, 79, 80), there will be four methods or pro- 
cesses of discipline in some essential particulars. A disci- 



232 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

pline foreign to a theory can not be engrafted upon it ; for 
either it will transform the theory into another or be thrown 
off as a foreign element. Discipline may be lax or rigid, but 
its form is determined by the theory of the church that is 
held. 

(2) Defects in administration are of little weight. Human 
nature, even when renewed, is faulty, and no administration 
of discipline, under any theory, can escape defects. The 
primitive churches, under the eyes of the apostles, were not 
blameless here. Even the apostles were found fault with 
(Acts 6 : 1-6). It avails nothing, then, to cite slips in disci- 
pline against any church polity, unless it can be shown that 
those slips arise from the polity and not from man's common 
infirmities. 

(3) Yet there is a drift in the discipline of any commun- 
ion, determined by the theory of the church that is held, 
which makes for purity or for corruption, and so a polity may 
be judged by that drift. This drift requires long periods to 
be fully developed, but when developed, it is decisive ; for it 
arises from the nature of the theory itself. If that drift 
makes for purity in faith and life, it proves the theory, so far 
forth, to be true ; but if the drift be to compromise with error 
or corruption, it proves the theory, so far forth, to be false. 
Herein the history of churches becomes a test by which to 
judge of the theories held by them, after due allowance is 
made for the civil, social, and moral environment of the age 
and country. " The primitive communities were what they 
were mainly by the strictness of their discipline." ^ This 
strictness gave way to looseness when the primitive theory of 
the Church was perverted into the Episcopal and the Papal 
Theories of the Church. 

(4) Special study of church discipline in its dealing with 
offenders is needed by the members and officers of free 
churches. It needs to be studied historically and practically, 
and that for two reasons : — 

2 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 68. 



TEST OF CHUBCH DISCIPLINE. 233 

(a) Discipline is ever needed. There is no church so pure 
as not to require it. No polity, and no stage of piety yet 
attained, can escape either the duty or the test of discipline. 
And what is ever needed, both the members and the officers 
of a church should be ever ready to perform. They are 
culpable, especially the officers, if they neglect to study 
discipline. 

(5) For mistakes in discipline rend churches as nothing 
-else can rend them. Mistakes work injustice and divisions, 
which can not be remedied. Right action in the right spirit 
may stir up a church, but time quiets and heals ; for there 
are no wrongs to be righted, no injustice to be remedied. 
Hence both officers and members owe it to Christ and to 
their future peace and prosperity to make no mistakes here. 
They must proceed with a sure step. It is better to study 
the case up in all its bearings before beginning, so as to make 
no mistake, than to spend nights in study and call a council 
to help the church out of the whirlpool into which a single 
mistake may plunge matters. Church and officers, but espe- 
cially the pastor, should know the authority, the principles, 
the ends, the rules, the subjects, the limits of church disci- 
phne, that they may walk with a sure foot in every step of 
the procedure. 

(5) The Congregational Theory of the Christian Church 
requires the same essential form of discipline, though the 
details of the process may be variant. This we shall set 
forth. 

§ 161. The authority of church discipline lies, since the 
death of the apostles, in the particular, or local, congregation 
of believers. Since each believer can come boldly unto the 
throne of grace with no mediator but Christ, it might be 
claimed that he is, therefore, responsible to Christ alone for 
his belief and conduct. Were there a human priesthood to 
mediate for him, he might be called by it to account ; but 
this priesthood being absorbed in Christ, the believer can be 
in subjection to no other authority. Tliis is true when taken 



234 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

in the right sense, as we shall see ; but when taken, as it 
sometimes is, it is disintegrating, destructive, forbidden. 
Christ did not thus resolve his manifested kingdom into 
unaffiliated, irresponsible, individual integers, but gathered 
those personal integers into responsible relations, one to 
another, in local churches, with the power and command 
of discipline (§ 99). 

(1) The authority which a church has to discipline its 
members is not original, but derived from the Lord Christ. 
It is true that every organization has the inherent right 
and power of self-protection, of excluding unfit persons. 
Churches, like associations of churches (§§ 209, 210), have 
this common and essential right and power. But church 
discipline is much more than this. A local church can do 
what no other body, not even an association of churches, can 
do, namely : apply to a member the grace of discipline for 
his spiritual edification. Church disciphne is a means of 
grace as really as the preaching of the Word, prayer, and 
the sacraments, committed by the Master to local churches. 
Associations of churches are not empowered to exercise it, 
though they can clear themselves of unworthy members 
(§§ 211, 212) ; but churches, though composed of only 
two or three, have had given them this power of the keys 
(Matt. 18: 15-20). Thus the power of exclusion is natural, 
belonging to all organizations ; but the authority of discipline 
is conferred by Christ Jesus. Whatever body has this com- 
mission from Christ, the Head, acts therein as Christ's vice- 
gerent on earth, whose action he expressly ratifies (Matt. 18 : 
18); (§99: 2,8). 

(2) That Christ has made the local church the repository 
of this authority of discipline, and not the Pope or the Epis- 
copacy or the General Assembly, we have abundantly shown 
(§§ 106, 107, 108). The power of the keys given also to 
the apostles for the founding of churches (§§ 115: 5) 
ceased when they died, since they left no successors (§ 116 : 
3). The sole authority to administer discipline in the 



AUTHOBITY OF DISCIPLINE. 235 

name of Christ and by Lis commands is, therefore, perma- 
nently deposited with local churches (§ 99). 

(3) The extent of this authority is limited. It may be 
carried, if the offender be incorrigible, to the extent of 
entire separation from the Church, but not to fines and im- 
prisonment. These belong to the State, from which the 
churches have been separated (§ 225). For the force of 
" binding " and " loosing " see § 99 : 3. 

§ 162. We need say little as to the subjects of church 
discipline. Each church has authority over its own mem- 
bers, whether officers or not, but not over the members of 
other churches or over those not members. Its jurisdiction 
is limited by its own full membership. 

(1) Election to office does not release laymen from disci- 
pline. They can be dealt with as any other offenders,, 
removed from office and excommunicated, for cause. Dea- 
cons, clerks, treasurers, committeemen, can be disciplined ; 
and excommunication removes from office. 

(2) Ministers, in virtue of their Christian character and 
ministerial function, require a twofold process. As church, 
officers they can be removed from office by their respective 
churches, like other officers. Thus the church at Corinth 
removed its elders.^ As church members they can be dealt 
with as other members. But as ministers, whose divine call 
to the work has been recognized in ordination by the 
churches, they can rightly claim that their ministerial stand- 
ing thus secured shall not be jeopardized by the action of a 
single local church. Ministers, though subject to discipline, 
are not to be treated like private members (§§ 122, 131 : 5). 

(3) Baptized children are not made thereby full members. 
(§ 153), and so do not fall under the censures of a 
church. There should be the discipline of nurture but not 
of censure, until by confession of Christ in public they 
become full members (§153). 

§ 163. The offences demanding notice in the way of 

8 Clement Romanus, Ep. Cor. xliv. 



236 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

discipline need to be carefully considered. For not all 
offences call for church action. Love that suffereth long 
and is kind, that seeketh not her own but the good of others, 
must cover a multitude of sins. For some are too trivial to 
be noticed. Common sense ought to teach churches not to 
arraign members for trifles. " The putting on of gold and 
costly apparel " is against the " Discipline " of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; yet that church long since wisely ceased 
trying to enforce plainness in dress. The General Court of 
Massachusetts Bay, in 1639, took notice of and forbade the 
wearing of lace, "immoderate great sleeves," bare arms, etc., 
but stayed direct proceedings, in the expectation that the 
churches would deal with such offences by way of discipline.* 
It is a greater evil to try to uproot such matters by church 
discipline than to let them alone. True, the standard of 
Christian living should be lifted high, but this can be done 
in the teaching of the pulpit better than in the discipline of 
every trivial offence. Much must be left to Christian liberty 
and consecration. Otherwise, while we gather up the tares 
we shall root up, also, the wheat with them (Matt. 13 : 29). 
Paul also says : " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, 
but not to doubtful disputations." " Let every man be fully 
assured in his own mind" (Rom. 14: 1, 5). Discipline 
must not invade the realm of indifferent things. 

If a serious offence can not be proved by witnesses or 
common fame, the church can take no action. When men 
do wrong they seldom take witnesses with them that will 
testify to the truth. To institute proceedings without 
probable proof is to bring discipline into contempt by 
failure. The old Jewish law required that there be two 
or three witnesses or their equivalent. Common fame 
is a very uncertain ground of action, since the best men 
have been persistently lied about ; yet sometimes, with 
proper precautions, a member may be dealt with and excom- 
municated without other evidence of guilt than common 
.belief. The offences demanding action are : — 

* Colonial Records, i, 274. 



OFFENCES DISCIPLINABLE. 237 

(1) The denial of the cardinal doctrines. The New 
Testament and the history of the Christian Church make it 
clear that some doctrines are of vital importance. They can 
not be denied without subverting the gospel and destroying 
the churches. If one denies the Lord that bought him, what 
has he to do in the Church? So the denial of any essential 
doctrine is ground for discipline, as an offence against the 
life and Head of the church-kingdom. The warrant for this 
is both natural and Scriptural. Such denial, if unnoticed, is 
subversive of the existence of the Church, which should pro- 
tect itself from destruction. But the apostles enjoin action 
in such cases (Gal. 1 : 6-10 ; Titus 3 : 10 ; 2 John 9-11). 
These doctrines were at length formulated in the so-called 
Apostles' Creed ; but they have been recently more elabo- 
rately set forth in the creed of the Evangelical Alliance.^ 
In applying these doctrinal tests to individual members, 
great forbearance should be observed ; for many a true 
Christian has been caught in some speculation which has 
carried him away for a time, to return again as soon as the 
speculation has revealed its emptiness. Greater rigor is re- 
quired as regards ministers (§ 119) and teachers. But 
heresy is certainly one offence that should be dealt with by 
way of disciphne, but with charitable discretion. 

(2) Scandalous offences and gross crimes are causes of 
discipline (1 Cor. 5 : 2 ; 10 : 20 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 6, 14) ; so also 

5 This Doctrinal Basis was adopted in 1846, and is as follows : — 

1. The divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the holy Scriptures. 

2. The right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of the holy 
Scriptures. 

3. The Unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity of the persons therein. 

4. The utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the Fall. 

5. The incarnation of the Son of God, his work of atonement for the sins of man- 
kind, and his mediatorial intercession and reign. 

6. The justification of the sinner by faith alone. 

7. The work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner. 

8. The immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the 
world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and the 
eternal punishment of the wicked. 

9. The divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity 
of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. — SchaflTs Creeds of Christen- 
dom, iii, 827, 828. 



238 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

private wrongs (Matt. 18: 15-18), and violations of the 
church covenant. On joining a church each member enters 
into a covenant, either written or understood, to attend, sup- 
port, fellowship it; to commune with it, and to seek its peace 
and welfare. Now, if he neglect any part of this covenant, 
he has broken his solemn agreement, and may be disciphned 
as a covenant-breaker. Thus, for heresy, immorahty, private 
injury, and violation of the covenant, a member may be 
brought to discipline. 

§ 164. But it may not always be the duty of a church to 
discipline a member even when the offence may warrant it. 
A case of discipline, as we have said (§ 160 : 4), stirs up a 
church and may hinder much good. The members may 
sometimes be reclaimed by patient waiting. Hence a church 
needs not only to look at offences as tares, but also to con- 
sider all the near and remote issues, lest the wheat be rooted 
up also. 

(1) The grant of authority to discipline does not remove 
the duty of discretion in the exercise of discipline. The 
keys were not given for ornament, it is true ; nor do they 
deny a wise discretion. The Church is to be kept pure by 
their use, and the process began with fearful rigor (Acts 5 : 
1-11) and was often enjoined (Gal. 1 : 6-10 ; 2 Jolin 9-11 ; 
Titus 3 : 10, etc.) ; and neglect of discipline has ever tended 
to corruption. As early as A.D. 251, Novatian divided the 
churches on this issue. He would have ruled oat all discre- 
tion from the duty of discipline, holding that any church 
neglecting to keep itself pure ceased, in the act of neglect, 
to be a true church.^ This ultra position is not imposed by 
the grant of the authority to enforce purity. 

(2) Nor does the function of the churches as the salt of 
the earth and the light of the world prevent the exercise of 
proper discretion. If the salt lose its savor, and the Kght 
become darkness, the churches cease to fulfill their divine 
function. They then become blind leaders of the blind. 

c Neander's Church Hist, i, 246. 



DISCBETIOy IX DISCIPLINE, 239 

They can not, therefore, be or do what they ought without 
laying great stress on discipline. But even this does not 
relieve them from wise discretion in its exercise. 

(3) This discretion makes the duty of discipline some- 
what variable. Churches exist in varying conditions of 
environment, and the duty of discipline varies somewhat 
with those conditions. There are certain offences which can 
under no circumstances be overlooked, but must be pro- 
ceeded against at once. There are other offences which are 
more culpable in one age and land than in another ; so that 
the standard of practice and the duty of disciphne should 
vary a little. God has acted on this principle in the three 
dispensations, and Christ expressly taught it in the doom of 
certain cities (Matt. 11 : 20-24), in the parable of the tares 
and wheat (Matt. 13 : 24-30), in the matter of divorce 
(Matt. 19: 8), and in the revelation of truth (.John 16: 12). 
Any other rule than this which respects the light one has 
and the environment in wliich one lives would be manifestly 
unjust. The discipline should be visely matched to the light 
and environment. 

Take the matter of temperance as an example. The 
colonial records contain repeated enactments against in- 
temperance ; and yet every body used liquors — ministers, 
deacons, members, rulers, all. ^q can not carry the light 
and circumstances of our day back to the times of otir Pil- 
grim and Puritan Fathers and judge a rum-seUing deacon of 
the seventeenth century as we should judge him now in this 
century. Tliis enactment, or order, of tlie Legislature of the 
Bay Colony, in 1647 : " The court tliink it convenient that 
order be given to the auditor to send twelve gallons of sack 
and six gallons of white T^ine, as a small testimony of the 
court's respect, to the reverend assembly of elders at Cam- 
l)ridge," ' — the same that framed the Cambridge Platform, 
— would be deemed an insult, if passed to-day by any 
Tegislature in reference to the National Council or a state 

" Colonial Records, ii, 194, 195. 



240 THE CHUBCH-EINaDOM. 

association. And even now cliurches should remember that 
not all men nor all churches look upon the sale and use of 
liquors as our churches do. Some are nearly where our fathers, 
were, of whom we may use the words : " Of some have 
compassion, making a difference " (Jude 22). For love will 
win them to the principle of total abstinence, when harshness 
and discipline will only harden. 

Hence the duty of discipline is under discretion, in some 
degree, and the highest wisdom and gentleness are needed in 
a church in dealing with offences, lest the best intended dis- 
cipline fail of reaching its true ends through rigor or through 
laxness. 

§ 165. This liberty of discretion keeps ever before a 
church the ends of church discipline. Were the duty with- 
out discretion, there would be no need of asking. What end 
should ever be had in view in dealing with offenders ? But 
now all cases are to be conducted with reference to a double 
end. 

(1) Discipline should aim first at reclaiming the offender. 
This is true of all proper discipline, private or public, pa- 
rental or civil, ecclesiastical or providential. In this it differs 
radically from punishment. Discipline in the church is 
therefore a potent means of grace when properly conducted. 
It aims at recovering the wayward, never at expelling him. 
It should not, therefore, be entered upon in haste, in malice, 
in revenge, but after patient waiting, much prayer, and with 
the most earnest and tender desire and purpose to bring the 
wayward member in penitence back to an orderly life and 
sound belief. 

(2) But the ultimate end of discipline is the purity of the 
church. This end is best secured by the reclamation of the 
offender ; but, that failing, it requires his expulsion. In 
either result the Church protects its purity and vindicates its 
character as a holy body. The moment that a church, 
through fear or ambition or policy or indifference, covers 
sin, it is shorn of strength and vacates its mission in part. 



ENDS OF DISCIPLINE. 241 

It must thereafter tread like Samson in the mill of the Phil- 
istines. Its discretion in the duty of discipline (§ 164 : 3) 
has respect to the best way of securing the ends of disci- 
pline, not how to avoid it. As purity is essential to the 
power of the ministry, so purity is essential to the power and 
permanent prosperity of any church. 

§ 166. So important did Christ regard the ends of disci- 
pline that he detailed the steps by which those ends can best 
be attained. He gave a rule of disciphne with steps of 
progress (Matt. 18 : 15-18). 

(1) The first step in the process of discipline for private 
offences is this : " If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew 
him his fault between thee and him alone : if he hear 
thee, thou hast gained thy brother" (v. 15). The margin 
says : " Some ancient authorities omit against thee ; " this 
would make the rule universal, if these two words should be 
omitted. This first step is so plain that it would seem to 
need no explanation ; but the history of discipline enforces 
the necessity of dwelling upon it with the greatest particu- 
larity of detail, (a) The injured party must begin the 
process. He takes the initiative because he has suffered 
wrong. If the wrong-doer shall first come and confess his 
fault, the process can not begin. The case is closed. (6) The 
wronged goes to the offender. There is special significance 
in that little word " go ; " a casual meeting will not do. An 
interview must be sought and obtained, if possible. The 
injured does not meet the requirement if he write a letter or 
send another person to the one who wronged him. (c) The 
interview must be secret or private, " between thee and him 
alone." No third person should be present. This rests on 
human nature. A man will relent and confess and make 
amends in such an interview, who would not if a third per- 
son were present, (c?) The injured must show the wrong- 
doer his fault, without enlarging it or diminishing it, by 
giving a fair and full presentation of it. It is not merely ta 
be told him : it must be shown him, that he may see it. 



242 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

(e) And all in a tender spirit of love. To go in any other 
spirit might increase the injury. To go to him in order to 
reach the next step is itself a wrong. There must be a love 
that forgives, if need be, seventy times seven (Matt. 18 : 
21-35), and it will probably win the man. (/) " If he hear 
thee, thou hast gained thy brother." The end has been 
gained. To gain, and not to cut off, is the aim. (^) His 
penitent confession and reasonable reparation ends the case. 
Purity is secured in penitence. The grace of God has tri- 
umphed. No more should ever be said or done about it. 

(2) But a second step is sometimes necessary. Hence it is 
given in these words : " But if he hear thee not, take with 
thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or 
three every word may be established " (v. 16). (jx) Here 
the spirit and end are the same as in the preceding step. 
Forgiving love trying to reclaim inspires the interview. (K) 
The one or two taken along are witnesses of the loving fidel- 
ity of the party wronged and the conduct of the wrong-doer. 
They should be discreet, full of wisdom and love, having the 
confidence of all, especially the wrong-doer. (<?) In the 
presence of these witnesses the fault must be shown again, 
for the purpose of bringing the offender to see and confess 
it. (jl) His confession before these witnesses ends the case, 
and all are to keep silent about it. 

(3) If this interview fail, then comes the third step: 
" And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church," or 
^'-congregation^'' (v. 17). (a) This shows what part the wit- 
nesses take in the preceding interview. They must use all 
Christian endeavor to reclaim the offender ; for it is only 
when he refuses to " hear them " that (5) the offence must 
be told unto the church, or congregation. This must be 
done in an oral or written complaint, (c) This church, or 
congregation, is the local church to which the offender be- 
longs (§ 99 : 1). The whole membership must now hear the 
case. 

(4) The fourth and final step is this : " But if he refuse to 



8TEPS IN DISCIPLINE. 243 

hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and 
the publican" (v. 17). (a) The offender reveals his incor- 
rigible heart in refusing to hear first, the wronged; second, 
the witnesses ; and third, the whole Church ; all laboring to 
save him, not to cast him out of their fellowship. (5) Hence 
they have no alternative but to cast him out of the Church, 
to excommunicate him. He is thence to be as a Gentile and 
a publican ; that is, cut off from all privileges of membership 
in the Church of God, and denied participation in the Lord's 
Supper (§§ 155: 2, 3; 156). (c) Further than this the 
Church may not go ; nor should the State interpose to punish 
him.^ 

(5) These steps are complete, and make a final end of the 
case so far as authority to discipline goes, (a) The offender is 
dealt with step by step until reclaimed or cut off, with no 
appeal from the beginning to the end. And the issue is final 
and complete exclusion from church privileges. The four 
steps leave the process finished. (5) This issue is ratified by 
Christ, the Head and King : " Yerily I say unto you, What 
things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : 
and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed 
in heaven " (v. 18). This estops all right of appeal (§ 99 : 
2, 3). (c) Yet if wrong is claimed to have been done in 
thus issuing the case, the church and the aggrieved may ask 
the advice of churches in a council (§ 194 : 10), what re- 
dress, if any, is required, and may act on that advice. This 
advice is not of the nature of a command, for it has none of 
the authority of discipline, which was permanently committed 
to local churches alone (§§ 99 : 1, 3 ; 106, 107, 108). (c?) If 
the offending member be also a minister, another principle 
comes in (§ 162 : 2) to modify his discipline by a church. 
He has been recognized in ordination as a minister called by 

8 The General Court of Massachusetts, in 1H38, " ordered, that whoever shall stand 
excommunicate for the space of six months, without laboring what in him or her Ueth 
to be restored, such a person shall be presented . . . and proceeded with by fine, im- 
prisonment, banisliment, or further, for the good behavior, as their contempt and obsti- 
nacy, upon full hearing shall deserve." But the law was repealed the next year. 
Records, i, 242, 271. 



244 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

the great Head of the Church unto the preaching of the 
Word. His excommunication by a local church impairs, if 
it does not destroy, his character and influence as an ambassa- 
dor of Christ, , which, as his call to the ministry was not 
recognized by one church alone, ought not to be jeopardized 
by the action of one church alone (§§ 121, 122, 124). 
But both these apparent exceptions are treated elsewhere 
(§§ 200, 201, 202). 

Such is the plain interpretation of Christ's rule for church 
discipline ; but many queries arise, which we will consider 
under the head of 

SOME QUESTIONS EESPECTING CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

§ 167. Should all cases of discipline be treated alike? 
There is a great difference between a private offence and 
a public scandal, and must they always be treated the same ? 
We reply: (1) The ends of all church discipline are the 
same. The guilty are to be reformed, if possible, and the 
church kept pure either by reformation or by exclusion. In 
no case should this dual end be overlooked. (2) Yet public 
scandals should be treated more summarily than private 
offences. The private steps (§ 166 : 1-4) may not always 
be required; hence Paul indicates public action at once 
(1 Cor. 5 : 4, 5, 13), which our Platforms recognize.^ The 
reason is that such offences are known to the community, 
and the church may hasten to clear itself of complicity with 
the crime. (3) Such scandalous offences are those which 
are " infamous among men," " condemned by the light of 
nature," which are " of a more heinous and criminal nature." 

§ 168. When should the fu^st private step in discipline be 
taken ? It should not be taken in a hurry. Passion should 
have time to cool, and conscience time to assert its claims to 
control. This may require a full year or more. The most 
favorable time for gaining the wrong-doer must be chosen. 
Not until after a full year was Nathan the prophet sent to 

9 Camb. Plat, xiv, 3; Boston Plat, part ii, viii, 4. 



DISCIPLIXE AXD DISMISSALS. 245 

David the king. In case of doctrinal errors, a longer time 
may be needed. Wlien the heart begins to relent or hungers 
for the truth, then a word, gently spoken, may win and save. 
God is patient, and the child of his love shoukl also wait in 
patient hope and constant prayer to win a brother. Yet he 
must not wait too long. 

§ 169. Should a second private interview with the 
offender be sought? No intimation is given of such renewed 
attempt in case of failure ; but as the prime object is to gain 
a brother, a second and a third interview may be had in the 
spirit of the rule. It is better to save by loving labors not 
expressly required, than by strict interpretation to lose. It is 
better to be good than to be simply just (Rom. 5 : 7). 

§ 170. Does the asking for a letter of dismission forestall 
discipline ? The guilty party sometimes seeks to anticipate 
action of discipline by asking for a letter of dismissal before 
liis offence is made public, or while the church or the wronged 
party is waiting to take the proper reclaiming steps. How 
does such a request affect the case ? (1) The request for a 
letter is not a letter of dismissal. It is only a request, which 
the church may grant or not as each case may come before it. 
If any cause be known to exist why the letter should not 
issue, the party knowing it is bound to reveal the fact to the 
pastor or deacons or church, and thus to prevent the issuing 
of the letter until the matter is satisfactorily settled. A 
simple request of a member for delay for the taking of pri- 
vate steps stops the church from issuing the letter. (2) For 
a case of discipline takes precedence of a request for dismissal. 
It were a great wrong for a church to override a notification 
of complaint against a member by issuing a letter of dis- 
missal. If notice of an offence be given it, the request 
for dismissal must lie on the table until the disciphne 
be had. (3) And the said notice of complaint need 
not contain, and ordinaril}^ should not contain, the nature of 
the offence committed ; otherwise, there might be a prema- 
ture exposure of the fault. 



246 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 171. Does the granting of a letter of dismissal preclude 
discipline ? If the sin be hidden altogether until the letter is 
issued, the church can call the offender to account in one of 
two ways, namely : (1) If he has received his letter, but has 
not been admitted on it to some other church, he remains 
still a member of the church granting the letter, and is sub- 
ject to its discipline. Hence the church, if the case shall 
warrant it, can recall the letter and begin process of disci- 
pline as though no letter had ever been issued. (2) But if 
he has been already admitted to another church before the 
detection of his guilt, the church so receiving him should 
bring him to discipline the same as if the crime had been 
committed while he was a member of it. If, however, by 
reason of distance, his trial be inconvenient or impossible in 
said church, that church can ask the church where the deed 
was done to act as a commission, or to appoint from its mem- 
bership a commission, to hear the case, record the evidence, 
formulate its judgment, and report. On wliich report the 
man may be acquitted or censured by the church to which he 
then belongs. (3) To prevent, as far as possible, such cases, 
letters of dismissal ought not to issue immediately. A re- 
quest for dismissal, like an application for membership, should 
lie over for a week or two ; and for the same reason precisely, 
namely, that any one may have opportunity to stop action if 
he deem the party to be unworthy either of admission or of 
dismissal. 

§ 172. How should the case of discipline be brought 
before the church ? The rule is : " Tell it unto the church," 
or, as the margin has it, "the congregation." This would 
imply only an oral statement of the case ; and no church can 
demand more than this before action. (1) If an oral com- 
plaint be brought, the church, by its clerk, should reduce it 
to writing, read it to the complainant for his endorsement, 
and preserve it on the records and on file. (2) As tliis takes, 
time, it is better to prepare written charges beforehand, as 
definite as they can be made, and thus tell it unto the church... 



COMPLAINT IN DISCIPLINE. 247 

(3) Such complaint should cover the wrong that is com- 
plained of, the time when committed, the names of witnesses, 
the steps taken to secure redress, and the request that the 
church deal with the offending member as he may deserve. 
§ 173. How should the church conduct the case? It 
must hear the complaint as made, whether it vote to enter- 
tain it or not. The complaint may be so trivial that it would 
be wrong to dignify it with a church trial. For, as we have 
shown (§§ 163, 164), a church must carefully discriminate 
between what impeaches a man's Christian character and 
belief, and what belongs to Christian liberty or to immaterial 
infirmities. Hence, in the exercise of a wise discretion, the 
church must vote either to entertain or to dismiss the com- 
plaint. But in either case the complaint should go upon 
the record, with the action taken. If the church vote to 
dismiss the complaint, the case is ended. If it vote to enter- 
tain the complaint, then it should attend to these several 
things : (1) It should fix the time and place of the trial, 
allomng ample time for preparation. (2) It should order 
its clerk to give due notice of the time and place of trial to 
all the parties and witnesses, to send a copy of the charges, 
with the names of the witnesses, to the accused; and the 
church should appoint one or more to conduct the case on 
its behalf, and allow the accused to select one or more of the 
members to assist him at the trial. The church should also 
summon the accused and request the witnesses to appear at 
the trial. (3) The church tries the case at the time and 
place designated. If the accused refuse to appear, either in 
person or by representative, the church may, at its discretion^ 
adjourn to some fixed day, and notify him of the adjourn- 
ment ; or it may proceed without him to the trial. The 
reason of this is that a church, unlike the State, can not com- 
pel the attendance of the accused or of witnesses, or the pro- 
duction of documentary evidence ; so that if the absence of 
the accused could stop proceedings, he might prevent a trial 
altogether, and thus subvert church discipline. (4) In the 



248 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

trial, the pastor, unless a party in tlie case, directly or indi- 
rectly, is the presiding officer. If he be absent or disquali- 
fied, a deacon, or any one best versed in the principles and 
usages of our polity and in parliamentary law, unless he be 
disqualified by interest or partisanship, should be chosen to 
preside. (5) The church clerk should keep a full record of 
the doings of the trial for the journal of the church. He 
should also record and preserve on file the testimony of wit- 
nesses and other proof submitted, reading said testimony for 
correction to the Avitnesses, which must remain unaltered 
thereafter, unless corrected by the witness himself before the 
church. (6) Witnesses may be put under oath.^^ The oath 
gives sacredness and a needed sanction to testimony. Wit- 
nesses will sometimes testif}^ under oath what they will not 
otherwise. (7) When the evidence is all in and summed up, 
if pleadings shall be deemed best, the church votes on the 
specifications of a charge first, and then on the charge itself, 
and so of every charge in the complaint ; the question being 
put by the moderator: Is this specification (or charge, as the 
case may be) sustained? On the result of the voting the 
church founds its verdict of guilty or not guilty. If none of 
the specifications or charges are sustained, the case is ended 
by the acquittal of the member. If any or all the charges 
are sustained, the church proceeds, in due time and form, to 
its censure, which should be delayed a little. (8) The con- 
fession of the guilty party, if deemed genuine and ample, 
arrests proceedings at any stage of the trial; for the ends 
sought are thus secured. The church has no right or power 
to punish for guilt confessed. Its function is disciphne, not 
punishment. (9) There must be tliroughout the proceed- 
ings not only impartiahty, but the utmost care lest the 

10 The oath or affirmation should be administered to a witness by the moderator, in 
the following, or like, terms : — 

" You solemnly promise, in the presence of the omniscient and heart-searching God 
that you will declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, according to 
the best of your knowledge, in the matter in which you are called as witness, as you 
sliall answer it to the great Judge of quick and dead." This is the Presbyterian form. 
Discipline, chap, vi, 9; Moore's Presby. Digest, 1873, 530. 



CHUBCH JUBT TBIAL. 249 

charge of partiality or unfairness be made with, some degree 
of credibility. The church must heed in its discipHne the 
words of Paul : " Take thought for things honourable in the 
sight of all men " (Rom. 12 : 17). 

§ 174. May not the church hear the case through the 
church board (§ 135), or by a special committee or jury ? 
As this mode of discipline is Congregational in principle, has 
been adopted in England, and is sure to be adopted by our 
churches in diihcult cases, if not in all cases, we will explain 
it somewhat fully. (1) A church board, special committee, 
or chosen jury, if appointed and authorized to act in any 
matter by vote of the church, has all the authority therein 
of the appointing power. The Church, hke the State, may, 
for good reasons, commit the hearing of a complaint, the 
taking of evidence, the formulation of censures, and what- 
ever else is necessary in the trial of a member, to its church 
board, or to a select committee or jury, which shall submit 
its action to the church for final ratification. It can do this 
in matters of disciphne as it does it in other matters. And 
any church can do it, if it so elects. (2) Certain cases de- 
mand such a trial : (a) Sexual scandals are bad enough with- 
out gathering a whole church, and the public too, to hsten 
to their sickening and demoralizing details. The trial of 
such cases, for decency's sake, should be had in a small room 
before a jury of a few men, good and true. (5) Long trials 
require that a few, and not a whole church, be gathered, 
night after night, in patient hearing and recording of testi- 
mony. A jury of six men is far better here than a whole 
church, (c) Some cases are so difficult, because of the points 
of business or of poUty involved in them, that few in the 
church are quahfied to pass upon them. Those few ought, 
therefore, to be chosen as a jury to act for the church, and 
report. (c?) Justice demands that only those who are 
present to hear the evidence should vote upon the charges. 
Yet if a trial should last a few evenings, many who have not 
heard a word of the evidence may come in at the close of 



250 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the trial and determine the result, (e) There may be also 
great prejudice against the accused, or he may be related to 
a large part of the church, or connected with a majority of the 
church in a business way ; so that the church may be an unfit 
body so far forth to hear the case, when a jury chosen from 
among its members could act calmly and impartially. These 
cases, separately and collectively, present a strong reason 
why our churches should modify their discipline by the in- 
troduction of what may be called the jur}^ system. (3) This 
jury should be chosen by the church itself. The accused can 
not nominate any part of it, nor can he challenge any mem- 
ber of it. He can not refuse to be tried by the church to 
which he belongs ; and hence he can not refuse to be tried 
by any jury chosen by that church, since that jury is the 
arm of the church disciplining a member. The church acts 
in and through the jury. Such a jury is not a board of arbi- 
tration, nor a committee of reference, where each party has 
equal voice. The accused is not a party as against the 
church, but a member of the church on trial whether or not 
he shall be debarred church privileges. The church should 
consequently elect the whole jury that acts for the church 
in said trial. If the church should allow the accused the 
opportunity of challenge, it is of grace, not of right, and can 
be limited or denied again at pleasure. It were abhorrent 
that the accused should either dictate who should try him or 
else stop all proceedings. (4) The jury should report to the 
church its findings and recommendations for ratification or 
rejection. The church, by approval, makes the doings of the 
committee its own. The case can not again be opened, 
though all the records made and evidence taken by the jury 
may, on demand, be read before the vote is taken upon the 
report of the jury. There is no possible danger to the 
liberty of the churches in this jury trial, which avoids the 
evils above indicated. It ought to be universally adopted. 

§ 175. What rules control the admission of evidence in 
church trials ? A correct answer is of the greatest practical 



EVIDENCE IN ECCLESIASTICAL TBIALS. 251 

Talue. (1) It is manifest that legal rules can not be allowed, 
though some writers have asserted their application.^^ One 
fact is conclusive against their use, that they are framed to 
regulate evidence in courts which can compel the attendance 
of witnesses and the production of evidence, neither of which 
falls within the power of a church. This one fact so sepa- 
rates civil and criminal trials from ecclesiastical that the 
rules for the admission of evidence must vary to suit the 
different conditions. (2) In fact, the rules governing evi- 
dence in ecclesiastical trials have been very comprehensive. 
" The best kind of testimony need not be produced, or its 
absence accounted for, before secondary evidence can be 
offered. Parties in interest are not excluded, on account of 
bias, from giving their testimony; husbands and wives are 
not prevented from testifying for or against each other ; hear- 
say evidence is not excluded. But every thing is admissible 
that the council choose to admit, that will help them come to 
an understanding of the case. The Supreme Court has never 
qualified this license of proof, or been called to qualify it." ^ 
(3) The civil courts are approaching somewhat this eccle- 
siastical hberty, by admitting testimony that once was ex- 
cluded. It is not because hearsay evidence is unworthy of 
belief that legal rules so generally exclude it. Sir James F. 
Stephen, the author of A Digest on the Law of Evidence,, 
says : " But it must not be supposed that the law admits as 
evidence all facts which are, in a strictly logical sense, rele- 
vant. The most considerable and important exception is that 
of hearsay e^ddence. In ordinary life we should regard a 
statement made to us at second-hand not only as relevant to 
the fact it asserts, but as sufficient and satisfactory proof, if 
both of our informants are persons of creditable character 
and intelligence. In point of fact, the immense bulk of our 
knowledge and belief on all sorts of subjects is founded on 

^ Dexter's Congregationalism, Revised Ed. 390; Harvey's The Church (Baptist), 60, 
61; Canon 9, iv [4], of Prot. Epis. Ch. Digest, 83. 
" Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, chap, xvii, § 10, p. 227. 



252 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

hearsay evidence many times more remote than in the case 
we have supposed. The general rule of law excludes all 
such evidence. . . . The reason is sufficiently obvious. A 
deponent in court tells his story under securities for its truth- 
fulness. He may be cross-examined. He may be punished 
for telling lies. But for these securities it would hardly be 
safe, considering the consequences attaching to every issue 
in a court of justice, to act upon any testimony whatever." ^^ 
These issues in fines, imprisonment, and death justify the 
•exclusion of hearsay evidence from state courts, where the 
law brings both witnesses and documents into the court and 
compels testimony ; but neither such issues nor the impo- 
tence of a church to compel testimony can be claimed as a 
reason for excluding hearsay evidence from church trials. 
They, on the contrary, justify its admission. (4) This liberty 
of proof covers all ecclesiastical trials, whether before a 
church, or before a council or association of churches. For 
the reason of it exists in all such cases. We have seen no 
instance where the civil courts have set aside ecclesiastical 
action because legal rules of proof were not observed. The 
principles which have governed the courts in Massachusetts, 
above referred to, have governed all courts, so far as we can 
learn. 

§ 176. May legal counsel be admitted to plead in church 
trials ? Paul's question : " Dare any of you, having a matter 
against his neighbour, go to law before the unrighteous, and 
not before the saints ? " (1 Cor. 6 : 1) has not lost its force 
altogether by the nominal Chris tianization of a nation. He 
felt that in pagan countries the least in the church, " who 
are of no account," were better than pagan magistrates 
(v. 4). We may answer the question, then, in this way : 
(1) Men should not be permitted to plead in church trials 
as professional counsel. Lawyers are court officers, with 
certain special privileges which it would not be wise to 
grant them before churches. They should have no privi- 

" 8 Ency. Brit. 740. 



LAWYEBS m ECCLESIASTICAL TEIALS. 253 

leges not accorded unto others in conducting a case or in 
pleading. But (2) as Christian counselors lawyers may 
conduct cases of discipline. Their experience and wisdom 
can thus be used in the interest of justice. If a member of 
the church, a lawyer may assist the accused or conduct the 
case of the church. He acts as a church member in either 
case, not as a lawyer, and is amenable, like any other mem- 
ber, to the church. In consequence of conducting the trial, 
he rightly loses both voice and vote in making up the result 
of the trial. (3) Lawyers who are not church members iu 
any communion ought not to be admitted to conduct a 
church trial. Tliis is the general, if not universal, rule in. 
other communions. It is said for the Baptists that " it 
would not be proper for any member on trial before the 
church to bring a person who is not a member to appear as 
his advocate and plead his cause." ^* The Episcopal Metho- 
dists limit counsel to "any member in good and regular 
standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church." ^^ The Pres- 
byterians and Reformed Churches have this rule : " No 
professional counsel shall be permitted to appear and plead 
in cases of process in any of our ecclesiastical courts. But if 
an}^ accused person feels unable to represent and plead his 
own cause to advantage, he may request any minister or 
elder belonging to the judicatory before which he appears to 
prepare and exhibit his cause as he may judge proper. But 
the minister or elder so engaged shall not be allowed, after 
pleading the cause of the accused, to sit in judgment as a 
member of the judicatory." ^^ The Protestant Episcopal 
Church says that " the accusers may, if they choose, select a 
lay communicant of this church, of the profession of the law, 
to act as their adviser, advocate, and agent, in preparing the 
accusation, proofs, etc. ; " and the board for trial " shall also 
appoint a church advocate, who must be a lay communicant 
of this church, and of the profession of the law," to repre- 

1* mscox's Baptist Directory, 1871, 100. 

15 Discipline, 1872, § 347. le Discipline, chap, iv, § 21. 



254 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

sent the church in the trial of a bishop.^" We should not, 
in our liberty, imperil the peace of our churches by admit- 
ting non-church members to plead or conduct process in 
them. (4) The same may be said of councils and associa- 
tions of churches, although the reasons are stronger for the 
exclusion of professional counsel from trials before churches 
than from trials before councils and associations. The arts 
of a lawyer pleading as such are more likely to bewilder a 
church than to confuse a council and association ; and hence 
the greater the danger. But brethren versed in law may, as 
unprofessional counsel, render inestimable assistance in 
church trials wherever held. 

§ 177. What censures may be administered ? The rule 
for private offences, heresy, and public scandals (§§ 163 : 1, 
2) seems to be one, that of exclusion from the church. The 
apostolic power " to deliver such an one unto Satan for the 
destruction of the flesh " (1 Cor. 5 : 5 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 20) was 
never conferred upon the local church. If the accused be 
found guilty by the church, and the offence be light, the end 
of purity may be secured by the censure of admonition. 
The guilty party is admonished of his guilt, the injury done 
Clirist and his cause, and enjoined to penitence and reforma- 
tion. If the offence be more gricA^ous, there may be added 
to this admonition suspension from communion for a fixed 
period. When this period is elapsed, the offender, mth- 
out further action by the church, is restored to good and 
regular standing again. If the sin demand the extreme 
censure of excommunication, the church may wait a short 
time before pronouncing it, that the man may repent and 
confess ; but, if he still remain incorrigible, he must be cut 
off entirely from church standing and become to the church 
"as a Gentile and a publican." 

If after his excommunication he becomes penitent and 
asks for restoration, and the church be satisfied with his 
repentance and reparation, he can be restored to full mem- 

1" Digest of the Canons, Can. 9, §§ 2 [3], 4 [3]. 



ECCLESIASTICAL CEXSUBES. 255 

iDersMp again by a vote, reciting the fact of repentance and 
reparation, and Kfting or removing the censure. This is not 
a reconsideration of the Yote of excommunication, wliich 
vote still stands as a part of the record, but a lifting of the 
censure, by which action he is restored to full membership 
again without public profession or further action. 

§ 178. Should the act of censure be publicly announced? 
This was our former custom, and two considerations seem to 
determine the answer. (1) If members are admitted pub- 
licly, as they are, they ought to be cast out publicly, if cast 
out at all. If admitted with joy and thanksgiving, they 
should be cut off with sorrow and lamentation. If they 
enter thi^ough the front door, they should not be sent out 
Ihi'ough the back door. For (2) equity requires that repa- 
ration should be as ^-ide and public as the injury done. 
This law lies at the bottom of Christ's rule of discipline. 
So long as an offence is private, private reparation is all that 
is required. If it be extended to the one or two witnesses 
in a second interview, the confession must be before them. If 
it be carried to the church, the reparation or excommunication 
must be before the whole church. If members are admitted 
in church meeting, when the congregation, as distinct from 
the church, is absent, their excommunication need only be 
announced in a similar meeting ; for neither equity nor 
policy requires the advertising of church troubles, whether 
in prayers, in sermons, or in other public announcements. 
The church and pastor may lament the existence of troubles, 
l)ut let their lamentations be in private, not m the social 
meetings or in the pulpit, lest strangers ask, What is the 
trouble here ? and the worship be marred and embittered b}' 
needless personal reflections. In all worship, let thoughts of 
God and love and peace and truth drive out the petty quar- 
rels and needed censures of men. Yet an announcement 
of the excommunication of a member is not so unauthorized 
as to be a public libel or slander. 

§ 179. Are pei'sons taking part in church trials protected 



256 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

by the law of the state ? All who take part, whether as wit- 
nesses or as moderator, or in any other capacity, if they act in 
good faith, are protected from suits for slander or libel. This 
extends to the reading of an excommunication from the pul- 
pit. The state recognizes the right of a church to adminis- 
ter its discipline,^^ so long as it keeps to its proper province- 
It will not even interfere to restore an irregularly expelled 
member.^^ 

§ 180. When do irregularities in procedure invalidate 
church proceedings ? As important as this question would 
appear to be, in view of the frequent appeals based on thi& 
ground, both in state courts and in the judicatories of other 
polities, we find that it has been omitted from all the writers- 
on Congregationalism that we have consulted. We have 
considered it briefly in other manuals. ^^ It demands a more 
elaborate treatment. (1) Irregularities often occur. Thej^ 
do in civil and criminal procedures, in the hands and under 
the eyes of trained lawyers. They occur also under polities 
wdth elaborate books of discipline which are the inflexible 
standards of procedure. They can not be less frequent 
under our free and independent polity with no authoritative 
standard but the Bible, although we have books of principles 
and usages. (2) The force of irregularities in civil and 
criminal procedure has been elaborately discussed and the 
precedents formulated into the rule, that a mistake or irregu- 
larity, to find relief in equity, must be of a material nature^ 
and the determining ground of the transaction.^! (3) 
Irregularities in Presbyterian procedure rest on the same 
principle. Thus the General Assembly has decided that 
" an irregularity in the call does not necessarily invahdate 
the election ; " that " irregularity in the mode of election 

18 Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, 70, 71; 13 Wallace (LT. S. Supreme Court), 722-734; 5 Gush- 
ing (Mass.), 412; 51 Vt. 501 (31 Am. Repts. 698-707). 
i9 37Mich.Repts. 542. 

20 Ohio Manual, 23; Pocket Manual, § 110. 

21 Kerr on Fraud and Mistake, 399; Parsons on Contracts, 555; Story on Contracts, 



IBBEGULABITIES m DISCIPLIXE. 257 

does not invalidate the ordination ; " that " the superior judi- 
catory shall judge how far the irregularity vitiates the pro- 
ceedings and defeats the ends of justice ; " that " a dismission 
may be irregular, yet valid ; " and that a decision may be 
reversed in part, on grounds of irregularity, and sustained 
in the rest.^ A mere irregularity does not here invalidate, 
unless it be of a material nature and the determining ground 
of the transaction. (4) The same principle will hold in our 
polity. And we may give as a rule in Congregationahsm : 
That an irregularity, to invalidate proceedings, or to be a 
ground of relief, must be of a material nature and the deter- 
mining ground of the transaction. If it can be shown that 
the censure or the transaction would not have occurred if 
the irregularity had not occurred, the irregularity is material 
and invahdates the action. But if the censure or transac- 
tion would have been the same if the irregularity had not 
occurred, the irregularity is not material and does not 
invalidate the transaction. This seems to be a rule of 
equity and common sense. 

§ 181. Who may vote in cases of discipline and on other 
church matters ? Tliis question is of grave importance, 
mvolving as it does the purity, peace, and prosperity of our 
churches. Shall any limitation be put upon the right of 
suffrage in the churches ? and if so, what limitation ? (1) 
The best time to answer tliis question is when no other issue 
is pending. When the stress of trouble is upon a church 
and parties are excited, and a few votes may turn the trem- 
bhng scales and determine the gravest questions, it is no 
time to settle who shall be entitled to vote and who shall 
not. Rules already made can be and should be enforced ; 
usages may be called in to limit the right of suffrage ; but 
all attempts in a quarrel, by either party, to pass a rule de- 
fining those limits will be bitterly resisted. (2) The rules 
of discipline should exclude minors from the right of 
suffrage in the church, as custom excludes them. The 

"Moore'sPresby. Digest (1873), 338, 339; U2; 540; 624; 572. 



258 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

reasons for such a rule are conclusive : (a) Minors can not 
give a free vote. They are legally, morally, and Scriptur- 
ally subject to the will of their parents. " The rule of 
the common law that infants can not vote in civil corpora- 
tions is apphcable to religious corporations," says Judge 
William Lawrence, of Ohio.^^ The parents can punish 
minor children for not voting as they command, as for any 
other disobedience. And the Bible requires obedience of 
children to parents (Eph. 6:1; Col. 3 : 20). These 
reasons apply as strongly to the uncorporate action as to 
the corporate action of churches. To submit to the vote of 
mmors the question of creed, of pastorate, of discipline, or 
the question of salary, expenditures, church building, etc., 
is the absurdity of liberty. There is untold evil in it. Re- 
ligious liberty does not involve it. Children are subject to 
their parents until of age. The courts so hold in religious 
matters. Hence a Baptist minister in Pennsylvania was 
held to have "interfered with the lawful authority of the 
father " by immersing a daughter, aged seventeen j^ears, 
against the prohibition of her Presbyterian father.^* (5) 
Children can not give a mature vote, even if allowed to vote 
as they please. The civil law in its treatment of them rests 
partly on this immaturity, and churches can not ignore it. 
Hence (c) the vote of minors, being immature and subject 
to the will of parents, will not long be endured. The ques- 
tions at issue are too momentous, such as creed, discipline, 
pastorate, salary, expenditure, building and repairing 
churches, fellowship. Wise men will not give liberally to 
churches if all their gifts and labors are to be put in jeopardy 
by the votes of children. Hence the usage which excludes 
minors from voting should be put into the rules of discipline 
of every Congregational church. (3) Women were formerly 
denied by usage the right of suffrage in our churches, both 

» The Law of Relig. Soc. and Church Corporations in Am. Law Register, NewSeriea, 
xii, 201, 329, 537; xiii, 65, where a multitude of precedents are cited on all points 
involved. 2* Ibid. 538. 



VOTEBS IN LOCAL CHUBCHE8. 259 

in England and in America.^-^ The prohibitions of the New 
Testament (1 Cor. 14 : 34, 35 ; 1 Tim. 2 : 11-15) have been 
held to cover voting as well as speaking in the churches ; 
but female suffrage in the churches has increased until now 
it is common. State laws sometimes allow it in religious 
societies or corporations. (4) In cases of discipline the 
accused and the man who brings the complaint and they 
who conduct the case on both sides should not vote. Great 
care must be had that an impartial verdict be rendered ; 
and yet, as an offence may be against the whole church, 
all parties in interest can not be excluded. 

§ 182. What is the validity of a vote when the majority 
present fail to vote? This condition of things is quite 
common in all bodies. Men are indifferent, or there is no 
division over a measure, and so only a few take the trouble to 
vote, the majority not voting. Important laws are thus 
passed. For such a vote is valid if a majority of those vot- 
ing are in the affirmative. Judge Lawrence, in his articles 
above referred to, cites cases to show that "an election is 
valid if the majority neglect to vote." ^^ The same would be 
true of any other action, provided there were no rule or con- 
stitutional provision to the contrary. 

§ 183. Can members of a church be dropped from the 
roll without censure ? We may answer here : (1) Members 
can not be dropped at their own option. A member can not 
cease to be a member by voluntary withdrawal. This is 
impossible from the nature of covenant church membership. 
(2) Nor should a member be dropped while charges against 
him are pending. If a man be under charges, the case 
should go to trial, that the man may be acquitted or con- 
demned. To drop liis name, even at his own request, under 
charges, would be the perversion of discipKne. (3) If a 
man prefer charges against a church member or the pastor, 
the matter can not be evaded by dropping the complainant, 
either with or without censure, until such charges have been 

25 Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, 68, 213. »6 12 Am. Law Register (New Series), 549. 



260 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

properly disposed of. It were abhorrent thus to punish a 
man for beginning process of discipline ; and the dropping 
of his name under such circumstances would properly be 
held to be a confession of guilt or of fear of conviction on 
the part of those doing it or permitting it to be done. If 
charges are preferred against a man or officer through spite 
or persecution, the motive should be exposed in the trial and 
the false accuser of the brethren should he punished by 
proper church action. (4) But absent members may some- 
times be dropped from the roll. Such members should be 
hunted up and labored with, and so induced to take letters ; 
but if they will not join another church, they should be dealt 
with severally as they deserve ; if they desire to retain the 
old connection, let it be retained under such conditions as 
the church may deem best to impose ; if they are indifferent 
or repellent, let their names be dropped with or without cen- 
sure as the church may deem best. (5) But unconverted 
members who have joined the church under a mistake, and 
perhaps under moral pressure, whose lives are free from scan- 
dal, may, if they desire it, be dropped without censure. To 
excommunicate such, with all the dishonor attaching there- 
to, were unjust and cruel. It damages the discipline of a 
church by putting no difference between a mistake and a sin, 
but meting out to each the same penalty, and publishing 
both in the minutes under the same head.^^ Such moral 
members, mistaken as to their conversion, should be urged 
to make their covenant vows real by repentance and faith ; 
but, failing in this, the church should drop their names with- 
out censure. The utmost gentleness must be exercised 
towards them in the whole matter, that, if it be possible, 
they may be won, and not alienated. (6) The dropping of 
such members appears to be a just, and consequently a grow- 
ing, custom among our churches. This appears from a 

27 Down to the year 1878 the Year Book recorded all who had been dropped under the 
head " Excommunicated; " but in the statistics for that year the more comprehensive 
term •' Disciplined " appears, which includes every degree of censure and dropping 
names without censure. 



DB OFFING MEMBERS. 261 

partial consensus of church, usages therein,^^ and from other 
sources.^ 

§ 184. What part should a pastor take in the discipline 
of members ? (1) He should not take part either as the 
offended in the preliminary steps or as the prosecutor. Let 
the parties immediately concerned attend to all such matters. 
If he himself has suffered wrong, it is ordinarily better for 
him to bear it for Christ's sake than to bring the offender to 
discipline ; but if the wrong demand public redress, he must 
begin and conduct the case as a private member, not as a 
pastor. He must not preside, or claim, or use any privileges 
as pastor in the trial. (2) Yet, as in other cases, he is to 
see to it that the proper steps have been taken, and all 
things necessary for the hearing of the case (§§ 166, 172) 
have been done before the trial begins. (3) In all things he 
is to show himself impartial and non-partisan. He in other 
cases is the presiding officer ; as such he must give rulings on 
points that may arise. Hence he should not only be impartial, 
but he must appear to be impartial, which he can not be if 
he interest himself for any party. A civil judge can not sit 
on a case in which he has been or is an attorney. The pas- 
tor should be as scrupulous in church trials. 

§ 185. When the pastor is the accused, can a local church 
complete the discipline ? (1) According to the pastoral 
theory of the ministry (§ 111), the church can first 
remove him from office, when he becomes a layman again : ^ 
and he can then be disciplined as a layman.^^ But 
this theory is false (§§ 111, 113), ^^ hence (2) a church 
may deal with a minister as respects his Christian character 
and conduct (§§ 131 : 5 ; 162 : 2) and excommunicate him, 
in virtue of its authority to discipline all its members (§§ 99, 
161). But since a minister is more than a member, since 
his ministerial function has been recognized by the churches 

28 Brooklyn Council, 1876. 

29 Roy's Manual, art. iii> § 4; Ross's Pocket Manual, § 117. 

30 Dexter's Congregationalism, 150, and Note. 

31 New Englander (1883) , 461, 462. 32 43 Bib. Sacra, 403. 



262 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

in ordination (§ 121), and since church censures would 
impair his ministerial recognition and standing (§§ 122, 123),. 
justice and the law of fellowship require that even in church 
censures the voice of neighboring churches should be had 
before judgment is passed by the church. As, however, th© 
methods of ascertaining the voice of said churches depend 
upon the fellowship of independent churches, we must post- 
pone the further consideration of this subject to the next 
Lecture (§§ 200, 201, 202, 211, 212). 

§ 186. If a church do wrong in its discipline, is there anjr 
redress ? (1) When it obeys Christ in spirit and in the let- 
ter of discipline, it will not be likely to do wrong. It will 
do nothing that sanctified human nature, enlightened by the 
Spirit of God, can ever hope to better. But a church some- 
times acts hastily, passionately, and so commits wrong in 
dealing with members which ought to find redress in some 
way. (2) Other polities allow appeals to be taken to higher 
judicatories, even to national tribunals, in some of which the- 
wrong, it is hoped, may be righted. The want of similar 
right of appeal might be urged against our polity as a grave 
defect, if we had no method of redress equally good, and if 
the Master, in the rule itself, had not precluded such " higher- 
courts." Since he has forbidden them (§ 99 : 2, 3), no satis- 
factory redress from wrongs inflicted by local church action, 
can be expected ; for whatever gain may be claimed for such 
judicatories, the gain is more than counterbalanced by 
the loss of liberty. (3) Our polity preserves the primitive: 
liberty, while allowing councils of advice in cases of griev- 
ance or claimed injury. If the church desire light before 
issuing the case, as when a minister is on trial before it, or- 
when the offence of a layman has been peculiar ; or if a. 
member has been unjustly censured and desires redress or 
vindication, the proper council can be called to inquire into 
the matter fully and give advice. This way is open without, 
involving the whole community or denomination in the affair.. 
(4) This is in harmony with Christ's rule, which does not. 



BEDBESS OF GBIEVANCE8. 263 

exclude light and advice, but external authority. It leaves 
the action of a local church, though advised, final. (5) If 
the church refuse the advice sought and obtained, the 
aggrieved can use the advice, if favorable, in vindication of 
his conduct and in admission to another church. (6) This 
method is the best in experience. The advice of the wisest 
men can be sought and secured. This has in practice worked 
so well that the decrees of General Assemblies have been 
confessed to be little more than advice. Our method con- 
forms to Christ's rule, and is best in rightly balancing purity 
and liberty. 

Before completing, therefore, the discipline of ministers 
by local churches, we must consider the bearing of fellow- 
ship upon it. 



LECTURE X. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — 
FELLOWSHIP. 

" A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as 1 
have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." — Jesus Christ. 

'^ Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me 
through their word ; that they may all be one ,* . . . that the world may be- 
lieve that thou didst send me.'' — Jesus Christ. 

§ 187. Christ's church-kingdom appears chiefly in little 
democratic bodies called churches, independent one of 
another in matters of control and authority. Each can elect 
and install its own officers, control its own worship and disci- 
pline, and manage its own afl'airs ; yet all in subjection to 
the will of Christ Jesus, the Head and King. These free 
and independent churches, having individually the same rela- 
tion precisely to Christ and his church-kingdom (§§ 97, 98), 
stand fundamentally and essentially in the closest relations 
of fellowship one with another. 

§ 188. The definition of charch fellowship may be de- 
rived from that of Christian fellowship. One article of the 
Apostles' Creed defines the church to be " the communion of 
saints," the fellowship of believers. This is its chief visible 
manifestation, first, in local churches ; then in association of 
churches. We may, therefore, define church fellowship to 
be the communion of churches. As saints in local churches 
have " mutual association on equal and friendly terms," so 
churches have mutual association one with another on equal 
and friendly terms, which constitutes church fellowship. As 
saints hold fellowship for their mutual edification in worship, 
cooperation in labors, and sanctification in spirit, so churches 
hold fellowship for the same purposes. 



CHUBCH FELLOWSHIP. 265 

§ 189. Church fellowship is a necessity as truly as Chris- 
tian fellowship. The church-kingdom is one, and not many. 
Hence all believers every-where are united by faith and love 
to Christ and to one another in one only spiritual household. 
This spiritual unity compels the formation of local churches, 
but it is not limited by the boundaries of these particular 
congregations of believers. It necessitates also the fellow- 
ship of churches. And as the spiritual unity becomes visi- 
ble unity in local churches, it must also, for the same reason, 
become visible unity in associations of churches, and will 
not be satisfied until all churches are, in some tangible sense, 
visibly one. Isolation is as contrary to the nature of churches 
as it is contrary to the nature of saints, because churches 
have their existence and continuance in the life and love of 
the one church-kingdom. Hence the new commandment 
given by Christ to his disciples, that they love one another 
as Christ has loved them (John 13 : 34). This love and life 
makes them all one. But Christ had more that spiritual 
unity — which can not be broken (§§32: 2; 97) — in mind 
when he gave the commandment and prayed his sacerdotal 
prayer. This unity must become visible unity, that all may 
know that members are true disciples of Christ (John 13 : 
35), and the world may believe that God sent him (John 17 : 
21). It is an unwarranted concession to the spirit and fact 
of schism, to limit the unity for which the great High Priest 
prayed before his offering up to spiritual unity, which is by 
nature indivisible. It expressly refers to a unity that can 
be seen, which convinces the world of the divinity of our 
Lord Jesus. 

§ 190. Hence church fellowship is not peculiar to any 
polity, for all polities are built upon it. Each polity must, 
indeed, have a peculiar method of using this common ele- 
ment when it passes over from " the communion of saints " 
to the communion of churches; but the element of fellow- 
ship is in all systems the same. No polity has such a pre- 
emption of it that it can truly call the fellowship of churches 



266 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

a peculiar principle. What is peculiar is not fellowship 
itself, but the way of using it, of exhibiting it. One polity 
has one way ; another has another way ; all, some way. 
Fellowship is not, therefore, peculiar to Congregationalism ^ 
(§ 43). 

§ 191. This element of fellowship, arising from spiritual 
oneness, and being therefore necessary, has been the chief 
vehicle on which centralized and false theories of the Chris- 
tian Church have ridden into power. Each has claimed to 
express the unity of the church-kingdom in the normal way 
(§§ 52, bb^ 59, 67, 81), and that way ends in unity by force- 
The churches retained, in large degree, their independence 
and liberty down to the union of the Church with the Empire 
under Constantine (§ 226). Since then unity of fellow- 
ship has been sought under force. But ecclesiastical force 
is divisive. It divided the Greek and Roman Churches, A. D» 
381-1054. It cast out the Reformation in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Later it ejected the Puritans and the Pilgrims. In 
the eighteenth century it drove out the followers of Wesley. 
Fellowship endures force and corruption, until the life of 
God in the heart can bear it no longer, then the life of 
love must break fellowship or perish. Such has been the 
origin of divisions under theories that use force. Tyranny 
has been endured long because of fellowship, and fellowship 
has been abused in the interest of hierarchies, until rebell- 
ions and separations have arisen. Thus there are five Pres- 
byterian Churches in Scotland and nine in the United States ; 
and there are nine Methodist Churches in the United States 
(§§70: 1; 247)., 

§ 192. Church fellowship may exhibit itself fully under 
the polity of liberty. It was "the plan of the apostles to 
establish many churches absolutely independent one of 
another," but yet in visible fellowship, according to the 
prayer of Christ (John 17: 21). It has been thought that 
unity in fellowship could not co-exist with liberty ; but it is 

1 New Englander, 1878, 514-520. 



FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 267 

coming to be seen that force, and not liberty, is the great foe 
of unity, and that the fulfillment of the prayer of Christ can 
be had only in the spontaneous, free, equal, and universal 
association of local churches. In such association each 
church can retain freedom, while all Christendom becomes 
one in visible manifestation. This is the divine model. 
The primitive churches, though perfectly independent under 
Christ (§§ 98, 99, 100, 109), were not isolated. They had 
the most fraternal interest in one another, as we have showu 
(§ 101). They recognized their unity, and began to mani- 
fest it in ways suited to their environment. We may do 
the same. All the churches of Christ may do the same,, 
their methods varying within the Scriptural independence 
conceded by church historians (§ 109), that each local church 
has the right and authority to manage its own affairs with- 
out interference or control from without. Beyond this limi- 
tation no church fellowship may pass ; for then it enters the 
realm of force. We shall see that this liberty under fellow- 
ship conduces to unity (§ 247), as force produces divisions. 

There are two ways, or systems, of fellowship within the 
above limitation, which we will detail: one local and occa- 
sional and limited; the other stated, comprehensive, and 
ecumenical. 

CHURCH FELLOWSHIP IN OCCASIONAL COUNCILS. 

§ 193. The origin of this system of fellowship in occa- 
sional councils needs notice. 

(1) It has its germ and warrant in the Scriptures. The 
prayer of Christ, that all might be one and might exhibit 
their unity (John 17 : 20-23), and the consultation at Jeru- 
salem (Acts 15 : 1-29) are the germ and warrant of fellow- 
ship by occasional councils wherever needed. The conference 
of the churches of Antioch and Jerusalem and the Apostles, 
over the continuance of the rite of circumcision, suggested 
undoubtedly similar consultations of churches without in- 
spired apostles. 



268 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

(2) There arose in the second century, local and advisory 
assemblies, or synods, whose decrees did not bind the 
minority, but were merely the mature expression of opinion 
by the majority. There were also general councils in the 
early days, beginning with that at Nice, A.D. 325, and ending 
with one, A.D. 869, whose creeds and decrees were enforced 
by the temporal power. These may have aided by example 
in the origin of the system of occasional councils. 

(3) The system, as such, has, however, a late and provin- 
cial origin. Robert Browne and his followers held to fellow- 
ship in councils for " counsel and advice." They confessed 
" that particular churches are ' by all means convenient to 
have the help of one another in all needful affairs of the 
church, as members of one body in the common faith, under 
Christ, their only Head.' " ^ But the system, as such, origi- 
nated in New England. It has been supposed, but without 
careful inquiry, that the system of councils for the organiza- 
tion of churches, the installation and dismissal of pastors, 
had a purely normal and ecclesiastical origin and develop- 
ment. But there are some things that go to show that the 
system had largely a political origin, or, if not this, certainly 
a politico-ecclesiastical origin, (a) It is reasonable to believe 
that if the system be a normal outgrowth of church life and 
forces under our polity, it would have appeared in other 
lands. But churches of our faith and order in other coun- 
tries have never developed a similar system. (5) If the 
system were the normal expression of church fellowship, its 
spread, when once originated, would have been rapid and 
complete, certainly in this country, if not in others ; but in- 
stead, it has not prevailed largely out of New England, and 
has lost ground lately in New England. Installations cover 
less than one third of the pastors in the country, and but 
little more than one half in New England. The stated asso- 
ciations of churches began early in the present century; but 
they now embrace nearly every Congregational church in the 

2 Hanbury's Memorials, i, 542. 



OBIGIN OF ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCILS. 269 

land, as in foreign lands. The stated meeting of cliurches 
has become universal, because it expresses and meets the 
normal fellowship of the churches in the most comprehensive 
way ; but the occasional meeting of churches in councils has 
decreased, because it does not, and can not, meet and satisfy 
the demands of church fellowship, which are much wider 
than advice. How, then, did the system of councils come 
into being? (c) We think its general acceptance in New 
England is due to civil or political causes. When councils 
first came into prominence there, none could vote in two 
colonies, Massachusetts Bay and New Haven, except church 
members ; while in Plymouth and Connecticut the suffrage 
was carefully restricted. In the former and controlling 
colonies the Legislatures were composed of laymen elected 
by the several churches, empowered by the Cambridge Plat- 
form to suppress heresy, immorality, and schism.^ The Gene- 
ral Court of Massachusetts " was but the whole body of the 
church legislating for its parts." * This General Court, in 
1631, enacted that only church members should be allowed 
to vote ; ^ in 1636, that no church should be gathered with- 
out first acquainting " the magistrates and the elders of the 
greater part of the churches in this jurisdiction with their in- 
tentions, and have their approbation therein ; " ^ in 1658, 
"that henceforth no person shall publicly and constantly 
preach to any company of people, whether in church society 
or not, or be ordained to the office of teaching elder, where 
any two organic churches, council of state, or general court 
shall declare their dissatisfaction thereat; . . . and in case 
of ordination . . . timely notice thereof shall be given unto 
three or four of the neighboring organic churches, for their 
approbation." "^ Thus, no church could be organized without 
the approval of the magistrates and of the majority of the 
churches in the colony ; and no man could preach regularly 

3 Camb. Plat. chap. xvii. 

< Palfrey's Hist. N. E. ii, 40. 8 Ibid. 168. 

« Mass. Col. Records, i, 87. "> Ibid, iv, part i, 328. 



270 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

or be ordained if two churches, or the council of state, or 
the General Court objected. It is clear that some method of 
obtaining the consent of the churches was needed at every 
formation of a church or ordination (the same then as instal- 
lation) of a minister. In this need was the birth of councils 
for these purposes, and their development into an established 
system. Under these and other laws, the State, in its protec- 
tion of the churches, needed an eye of inquisition, that it 
might use wisely its arm of strength. It was careful not to 
trench on the liberties of the churches beyond the warrant 
given it in the last chapter of the Cambridge Platform ; and 
how could it guard these liberties and watch over all inter- 
ests better than to make a council of churches its eye of in- 
spection, even in church troubles. Hence the General Court 
repeatedly called councils, naming churches and time, and 
in some instances ordering them, as a commission by the 
State, to report to itself.^ That these laws had time to de- 
velop a system of councils appears from the reply which the 
General Court made, in 1665, to the king's commissioners, in 

8 The following are some of the cases : In 1655 the General Court called a council of 
twelve churches, which it named, to adjust the troubles of Ipswich. Each church is 
ordered to send "two messengers." (Mass. Coi. Records, iy, part i, 225.) Again, in 
1671, it ordered a council to be held at Newbury, to settle troubles, and named the 
churches and ordered the council to report to the General Court or to the council of 
the state. (Ibid, partii, 487.) Again, in 1677, the General Court ordered the church 
and town of Rowley to arrange their controversy before the next term of court, or all 
parties were to appear, before the Court. (Ibid, v, 149.) As the unruly town and 
church failed to come to terms, the Great and General Court said: "This Court do 
declare tliat they will not countenance any procedure or actings therein contrary 
to the laws of this Court, having therein made provision for the peace of ^he churches 
and a settled ministry in each town, and that all votes passed by any among them con- 
trary thereunto are hereby declared null and void, and do order the actors therein . . . 
to be admonished, and to pay costs, six pounds seven shillings and eight pence." (Ibid. 
V, 172, 173.) As still the strife continued between the church and town of Rowley, the 
Court, in 1679, ordered that ten churches, which it named, "be written unto by the 
secretary, in the name of this Court, to assemble ... to give their solemn advice and 
issue to the said differences, as God shall direct, and make return to the next General 
Court." (Ibid, v, 245.) The Court, in 1675, appointed a committee to adjust troubles 
in Salem between the church and town, which reported to the Court. (Ibid. 67.) 
Again, in 1677, the Court ordered a committee to settle troubles civil and ecclesiastical 
in Salisbury, whose advice all were required to submit to. (Ibid. 144.) In 1679 the 
Court ordered the inhabitants of a precinct to apply themselves to the church of Ips- 
wich " for reconciliation," for " erecting a meeting-house," " which being done," the 
Court " do grant them liberty to procure a minister . . . provided he be pious, able, 



OBIGIN OF ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCILS. 271 

which it is said, in reference to ecclesiastical institutions and 
regulations, " that all proceedings in this kind be done openly 
with the approbation of the civil government and of neigh- 
horing congregations, the Court directed to the observation 
thereof, the which practice having been now attended among 
us near forty years, we have had experience of the good 
effect thereof." 9 

(4) Such being the origin and provincial nature of coun- 
cils, and the limitations of advice imposed upon them by the 
letters missive being so rigid and narrow, we may conclude 
that the functions of councils will in the future be greatly 
restricted, being confined largely to the settlement of contro- 
Tersies. Yet councils deserve a detailed treatment. 



and orthodox, as the law directs, with the advice of the following committee " [which is 
named]. (Ibid. 225.) In 1681 the Court appointed three laymen and the elders of 
four churches to heal an Andover quarrel, and to report to the Court. (Ibid, v, 325.) 
Even the county court, in 1653, forbade the new church in Boston to call a man to the 
pastorate, because it judged him " unfit in abilities, learning, and qualifications; " but 
afterwards, in 1654, the General Court recommended a fit man to the said church. 
{Records, iv, 177, 210.) 

9 Mass. Col. Records, iv, part ii, 220, 221. We catch glimpses of the " observation " 
had, not only from what is said in the preceding note, but also from the following 
facts : In 1660 the General Court removed a minister, and enjoined a church to obtain 
another. (Ibid, iv, part i, 434.) The Court claimed " the power by the Word of God 
to assemble the churches," but from prudential reasons it refrained from the use of 
the power. (Ibid, ii, 156.) Yet it, in 1679, exercised the power of calling synods, and 
commended the result of said synod so called. (Ibid, v, 215, 244.) It recommended the 
renewing of the covenant, the enforcement of discipline, and the filling of all oflices in 
the churches. (Ibid. 470.) 

The Plymouth Colony was more tolerant, yet, in 1679, on petition for uniting two 
■churches in Scituate, the Court denied the request, and ordered one to rebuild its meet- 
ing-house, and appointed four men to locate it and fix the rate of assessment for the 
same. (Records, Plym. Col. vi, 26, 27.) 

The commissioners of the United Colonies wrote a letter. In 1656, to the church at Hart- 
ford, Conn., urgingit to settle its great trouble. (Plym. Records, x, 175, 176.) They pro- 
vide also, in case of " a council or synod," for settling '■ any question " " of common con- 
cernment," " that the members of such council or S3'nod may consist of the churches 
indifferently, out of all the United Colonies by the orderly agreement of the several 
general courts." (Ibid, x, 328.) The United Colonies provided also, 1656, for the main- 
tenance of "an able, orthodox ministry," as " a debt of justice and not of charity," 
by " the whole society jointly, whether in church order or not." (Ibid. 157.) 

It seems strange to us that the general courts had so much to do in church matters; 
but the members of those courts in two colonies were at first the representatives of the 
churches, as much so as the members of our state associations. They were elected to 
rule ecclesiastically as well as civilly and politically. The churches did not entrust 
their interests to councils alone. 



272 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 194. The description of the system of church councils 
as developed in America. 

(1) A church council is the assembly of such churches by 
pastor and delegate (and of such persons) as may be invited 
and named in the letter missive, to inquire and advise re~ 
specting a specified matter.^'^ 

(2) A council can be called by those who wish to organize 
a church, by a church or churches, by an aggrieved member 
or members of a church, when the church refuses to join in 
a mutual council, or by any party or parties whose case is of 
common concernment or is important enough to demand 
advice from sister churches. 

(3) A council is assembled by issuing proper letters mis- 
sive to the churches and individuals invited. These letters- 
should always give : (a) the names of the churches invited ; 
(5) the individuals invited, if any ; (c) the object or objects- 
of the council ; and (c?) the time and place of meeting. 

(4) The parties calling a council fix and define the mem- 
bership in the letters missive. No one not covered by the 
letters can sit on the council. Not even the church calling 
it is a member of it ; for it asks for advice, and should not 
therefore have part or power in determining what that ad- 
vice shall be. A council can not, therefore, from the way it 
is called, properly enlarge itself, not even by honorary mem- 
bership in it. This rule is so essential to the nature of a 
council that it should never be broken. 

(5) Any invited party has a right to sit in a council. If 
the composition of the council be such that he can not con- 
scientiously sit in it, he should decline to attend it and notify 
the parties calling it to that effect, as also the council ; but 
neither the church itself, by letter or delegate, nor any indi- 
vidual member of the council, can challenge the right of 
another church or of an individual to membership therein, 

10 The rules given respecting councils are those that have grown up by usage, and 
have come to be recognized as valid though they have never been formally adopted. 
Hence they are somewhat flexible. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCILS. 273 

if covered by the letters missive. The council itself can 
not exclude a member, except for misconduct in the sessions. 
This arises from the nature of a council, as chosen by the 
parties desiring it. 

(6) A quorum of a council consists of a majority of all 
who have right to sit in it. A minority of two members, 
possibly of one, may organize provisionally and adjourn to a 
fixed time and place, but can not transact any other business. 

(7) The objects of a council are : (a) to advise respecting 
the organization of a church ; ^^ (5) or the dissolution of 
a church ; (ji) the ordination, installation, dismissal, disci- 
pline, or deposition of a minister ; (d) the redress of 
aggrieved members; (e) church troubles or necessities; (/) 
the apostasy or disorderly walk of a church in fellowship ; 
and (^) any matter requiring the combined wisdom of the 
churches in council to settle. There needs to be added an- 
other object : (K) redress of grievances when a church or 
minister has been unjustly excluded or expelled from an as- 
sociation, the association and the church or minister being 
parties with equal rights and privileges in calling the council 
(§194: 10,.). 

(8) The scope of councils is limited by the letter missive 
to the specific object for which the council is called. A coun- 
cil should not inquire into matters nor act upon questions 

" When the Shepard Church, Cambridge, was organized, in 1636, the eleventh in 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, they acquainted tho magistrates with their purpose to form 
a church, "who gave their approbation" and "tliey sent to all the neighboring- 
churches for their elders to give their assistance," and asked " the churches, that if they 
did approve them to be a church, they would give them the right hand of fellowship," 
which was done (Manual (1872), 8, 9). So when the Woburn church, Mass., was- 
formed, 1642, the magisti*ates were present, and the elders of the churches questioned 
the members to their satisfaction, and gave them the right hand of fellowship in the 
name of the churches. The church was constituted with a covenant, which was as- 
sented to or joined in before the messengers of the churches. There appears to have 
been no distinct creed. In the covenant occur the words : " And all this, both accord- 
ing to the present light that the Lord hath given us, as also according to all further 
light, which he shall be pleased at any time to reach out unto us out of the Word by 
the goodness of his grace," etc. (Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, book ii, 
chap, xxii.) 

This care about new churches was in the interest of uniformity enforced by law, a& 
well as, if not more than, an expression of fellowship among churches. The same is. 
true of installation in the early days of New England. 



27'! THE CHURCH- KINGDOM. 

not directly or indirectly covered by said letters. The let- 
ters are held to be the charter of a council, beyond which in- 
quiry may not ,be made or action had. Whatever is necessary 
to a complete judgment and result as to the one specific ob- 
ject of the council can be and should be thoroughly examined ; 
but being called for one purpose, it may not inquire into an- 
other matter not germane. 

This limited scope of councils — which, however, seems 
necessary to liberty — utterly prevents them from ever be- 
coming able to meet the wants of church fellowship. Com- 
munion is more comprehensive than advice, and true fellow- 
ship can not be limited to occasional expressions upon the 
few topics of forming churches, installing, dismissing and 
disciplining ministers, and adjusting church troubles. This 
limited scope of councils exhibits their essential inadequacy 
to satisfy church fellowship. 

(9) The size of councils is determined by the party or 
parties calling them. They may range from a few up to 
a hundred churches or more. They should generally consist 
of all neighboring churches mthin easy access. Ten 
churches make a good-sized council. 

(10) There are several kinds of councils. When viewed 
in respect to the object mentioned in the letters missive, they 
may be called councils of recognition, whether of a church 
or of a pastor ; councils of dissolution of a church ; councils 
of ordination, installation, dismissal, or disciphne of a minis- 
ter; councils of illumination or of admonition, etc.; the 
purpose of the council giving the name to it. When viewed 
in respect to the parties calling them, councils may be classi- 
fied more exactly, as, councils called by one party, uni parte 
councils ; councils called by two parties in agreement, duo 
parte councils; councils called by parties in controversy, 
mutual councils ; and councils called by one party to a con- 
troversy, ex parte councils. We will treat fully each of 
these four kinds of councils, though we have explained them 
elsewhere.^ 

12 Pocket Manual, §§ 48-51. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCILS. 275 

(a) Councils called by one party may be called, from lack 
of a better name, uni parte. There is in connection with 
them no opposition, nor other party in agreement. When 
persons agree to form a church and call a council to advise 
in the matter, or when a church desires light and advice 
in troubles, or in a case of discipline or of doctrine, or 
when any single party calls a council for any purpose what- 
ever, councils so called by one party constitute a class by 
themselves, to be distinguished from all other councils. 

(5) When there are two parties in agreement, standing in 
no opposition to each other, it produces confusion and evil 
to call a council convened by them a mutual council. An- 
other name ought to be found for it, and one which will dis- 
tinguish it from all other classes of councils. Xo better 
word than duo parte councils has been found or invented for 
them. This class includes councils of ordination, installa- 
tion, or recognition, and often of dismission of a minister. 
A council called by a minister and a friendly church, in agree- 
ment, to inquire into any matter, as the minister's standing, 
or into the action of a third party with which the minister 
may have had a controversy or by which he may have been 
censured, is not a mutual, but a duo parte^ council, because 
called by parties in perfect agreement. To call such a coun- 
cil mutual is misleading. 

(c) A mutual council is one called by the mutual agree- 
ment and selection of two or more parties in controversy. 
Each party selects an equal portion of the council. The rule 
is : " In a difficulty or controversy between the church and 
its elder or elders, or between the church and some other 
person or party in the church, if a council is desired, and the 
church consents, the churches to constitute the council are 
selected by agreement between the parties . . . and this is 
called a mutual council." ^^ " Cases of controversy in gen- 
eral between a church and its pastor ; cases of controversy 
between a church and a private member or members," call 

13 Boston Plat, part iii, chap, ii, 4. 



276 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

for mntual councils. " Occasions calling for the formation 
of mntual councils are always understood to imply the ex- 
istence of two parties which sustain to each other such 
a relation as to render it expedient to deviate from the com- 
mon practice." ^* " Such as are assembled by the cooperation 
of two parties standing in any sort against each other are 
called mutual " councils.^^ A council, therefore, is a mutual 
council only when called by parties in controversy; if called 
by parties in agreement, it is not a mutual council. 

(jT) An ex parte council holds an important place in our 
polity. Punchard calls such councils " courts of errors, to 
which the humblest member of a Congregational church may 
appeal. This appeal, can not however, be made until a mu- 
tual reference has been refused." ^^ Cotton Mather calls them 
"a remedy for oppression." When a member or members 
have been virronged by the action of a church, they should 
ask the church to join in calling a mutual council. If the 
church refuse by vote or neglect to join in such council, the 
aggrieved may then, but not till then, call an ex parte coun- 
cil, to review the case and give advice. 

This same right, as we shall see (§ 199), belongs to a 
church or minister that has been improperly cut off from 
connection by action of the conference or association to 
which either belonged. 

The conditions necessary to the calhng of an ex parte 
council are : a valid complaint of wrong actually done which 
calls for redress. Irregularities in procedure may not consti- 
tute a ground of complaint (§180). Redress of this wrong 
through a mutual council must be courteously requested of 
the offending body. An insolent request demands refusal, but 
such refusal is not a ground for calling an ex parte council. 
But if the body refuse a courteous request for a mutual 
council, the aggrieved has right to redress through an ex 
parte council. 

" Upham's Ratio Discipline, §§ 158, 159. 

ic Dexter's Congregationalism as seen in its Literature, 527. 

10 View of Congregationalism, 124. 



COUNCILS CONFOUNDED ONE WITH ANOTHEB. 277 

(11) Different councils are sometimes confounded to the 
peril of good order. Hence careful discrimination needs to 
be made and observed between the kinds above given, which 
include all. Yet we need to note more particularly: (a) 
Councils of advice on the discipline of laymen are easily con- 
founded with ex parte councils, though having no character- 
istic elements in common. A church in the progress of 
trying a lay member needs advice, and calls a council to 
give it. 1% thditcoujiQ]! ex parte? No; it i^ uni parte. One 
party not in controversy calls it, and not a party in contro- 
versy, as in ex parte councils. A layman undergoing trial 
by the church is not a party in controversy, but a party on 
trial; he has no grievance in the trial, and can have none, 
until his case is issued. And the church, havmg complete 
jurisdiction, can issue the case without calling any council, 
or, if it choose, it can call a council to advise it what to do 
in completing the trial. A layman on trial can not ask the 
church for a mutual council. Not until the case is issued, 
and wrong be done him, can he request such council. A 
council thus called to aid the church in dealing with a lay- 
man on trial has none of the characteristics of an ex parte 
council. (K) There may be three parties in a church: a 
pastor, whose ministerial standing (§ 122) is questioned or 
destroyed ; the majority of the church, that stands by him ; 
and a minority, that stands opposed to him. The pastor and 
the majority call a council to inquire into the pastor's stand- 
ing. What is such a council ? It is not a mutual council, 
because the parties calling it are in agreement. And to call 
it such is both misleading, as respects the whole fraternity of 
churches, and unjust, as respects the opposing minority in 
the church, which has been ignored. Such a council is duo 
parte., because called by two parties in friendly agreement 
and concurrent action, (c) When a church walks disorderly 
and two neighboring churches, after due labor, call a council 
to withdraw fellowship from it, is such a council ex parte or 
mutual ? This process constitutes " the third way of the 



278 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

communion of churches," ^^ which was approved by the ac- 
tion of our churches, in 1865.^^ It is ex parte^ as the churches 
in laboring with the disorderly church should ask it to join 
with them in calling a mutual council, and only on the refusal 
of which request can the supposed council properly be called. 
This process, to make it successful, as experience shows^ 
needs the authority of the magistrate behind it to enforce it,, 
as in the early days, when it was first formulated.^^ It is 
not likely to be tried often, if ever again, as a more peaceful 
and efficient way has been opened to the churches (§§ 209, 
211). 

(12) The mode of procedure in councils is usually as fol- 
lows: The oldest pastor reads the letter missive, calls the 
council to order, and presides while a temporary moderator 
and scribe are chosen. The roll is then made out. If a quo- 
rum (§ 194 : 6) be not present, the council, after due delay 
for arrivals, adjourns to a fixed time and place. If a quorum 
be present the council should elect by ballot a permanent 
moderator and scribe, and proceed to the business before it. 
In conducting its business, the ordinary rules of deliberative 
bodies are used,^^ except where superseded or modified by 
special rules or Congregational usage. In all sessions of the 
council the best order should be observed and the utmost 
impartiality shown, as becomes the churches of the Lord 
Jesus Christ assembled to learn and do his will. 

(13) The result of a council is the formulated action of 
the body, both as to what is called " the findings " and as to 
the advice given. This result is formulated and adopted in 
private session after the case has been fully heard. If the 
council be fairly chosen and acts impartially, its result is con- 
clusive as to facts, usages, and jurisdiction. The civil courts 
will respect it and will protect the parties acting on said 
advice, as in church trials, and will enforce the action of the 



17 Camb. Plat. chap, xv, 2, 8. " Boston Plat, part iii, chap, ii, 11.. 

i» Camb. Plat. xvii. 20 see Pocket Manual, §§ 151-161. 



FOBCE OF USAGE. 279 

council in matters coming within the jurisdiction of said 
courts.2^ 

But the advice given in the result may be accepted or re- 
jected by either party or by both parties, since it is only 
advice. But if either party accept the advice, the other 
party is so far forth holden by it. If a council advise the 
dissolution of the pastoral relation, the acceptance of the 
advice by the pastor or by the church society dissolves the 
pastoral relation and stops salary. If the council advise 
the dissolution of the pastorate and the payment of a sum 
of money to the pastor by the church society, the acceptance 
of the advice by the pastor closes his pastorate, but does not 
compel the church society to pay the advised sum. It can not 
be collected in law,^^ unless the society also accepts the advice. 

(14) Councils are temporary bodies called on special occa- 
sions for specified objects. If they do not meet when called, 
or on the day to which they are adjourned, they can not meet 
at all, except as new councils on new letters missive. If 
during the proceedings or at the close they adjourn without 
day, they are dissolved, and can not meet again except on 
new letters as new councils. They may for cause adjourn 
to a fixed time and place, or at the call of the moderator or 
scribe, and assemble again; but they are occasional bodies 
and can not become permanent. 

SOME QUESTIONS RESPECTINO COUNCILS. 

§ 195. What is the force of usage in Congregationalism? 
The above rules have been established as convenient by 

21 Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, 240; Watson vs. Jones, 13 Wallace (U. S. Supreme Court) , 
679. This decision is so important that it is quoted in full in Moore's Presb. Digest 
(1873), 251-262. 

" The Court always look behind the adjudication; and before the result can be re- 
ceived as evidence, or allowed to have any validity, they will examine the proceedings 
to ascertain whether there was a suitable case for the convocation of an ecclesiastical 
council; whether the members were properly selected ; whether they proceeded im- 
partially in their investigation; whether their adjudication was so formally made that 
it might be seen that they acted with due regard to the rights of the parties, and that 
they founded their decision upon grounds that wiU sustain it." Thompson vs. Reho- 
both, 5 Pick. 471 ; 7 Pick. 163. Quoted in 1 Cong. Quart. 176. 

22 Rev. A. H. Quint, D.D., gives a valuable discussion on these points in 1 Cong. 
Quart. 173, seq. 



280 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

usage, as we have said; but what force has usapje among 
independent churches ? 

Usage is the common practice ; a few instances do not 
make a usage ; but the common practice even for ages can not 
prevent changes without destroying liberty. To say at any 
time of any thing that it can not be done because usage is 
against it, is to attempt to bind the polity of free churches 
in the swaddling clothes of infancy or the small garments of 
childhood for all the future. Independent churches can do 
any thing, consistent with the New Testament, demanded by 
the expanding interests of the church-kingdom. For usage 
is only a guide to orderly development. Custom should not 
be set aside in a spirit of license, or without sufficient reason, 
and then only in lines of truth, unity, and liberty. The ex- 
tension of church fellowship into stated associations, district, 
state, and national, has been accomplished against usage, and 
may require changes in our customs in some other respects. 
We need to guard on the one hand against an antiquarian 
rigor of usage, and on the other hand against innovating 
license, and make only such changes in usages as the Script- 
ures allow and growth and reason demand. 

§ 196. Is the result of a council divisible ? It is mani- 
festly divisible into the findings and the advice ; and the 
advice may be accepted without endorsing the findings. So 
also if two or more things are advised, that advice is divisi- 
ble, and may be accepted in whole or in part by either party, 
since it is simply advice and not a mandatory decree. 

§ 197. In calling a mutual council has either party a right 
to challenge the selections of the other party ? Such a right 
of challenge might be used to prevent a mutual council or to 
pervert it, and hence justice and equality deny the right. 
Neither party can challenge the selections of the other. 
Each party should choose fair-minded men, while duly look- 
ing after its own interests.^ 

§ 198. Is there not danger of councils being chosen from 

23 Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, 219. 



LIABILITY OF COUXCILS TO PACKIXG, 281 

churches and men of known bias ? It is unfortunately too 
true, if not fatally true, that a council may be thus directly 
or indirectly packed to do a desired thing. This objection 
lies especially against the councils which we have designated 
uni parte^ duo varte^ and ex parte^ but not against mutual 
councils, unless packed by hmiting them to the churches of 
a specified district. If a church wish to ordain or install 
a man of questionable orthodoxy or character, and it itself 
be of easy virtue, it may select a council by careful picking 
that will ordain or install him. If one council refuse, a sec- 
ond or third may be called, until the thing desired be done. 
Or if there be no other way, the church may ordain or install 
him, and ask the invited churches, not to examine and ad- 
^-ise, but to assist in the ordination or installing exercises. 
None of these things supposed goes beyond the actual facts in 
rare cases. Railroads have immensely enlarged the area 
from which councils can be conveniently drawn, and hence 
have increased the temptation. Yet if a territorial limit be 
put upon the calling of councils, it may, in certain cases, 
work as it did with the elder Edwards,^ in giving a packed 
council. If a party appeal against such packed council, it is 
council against council, with no state authority, as in the early 
days of New England, where and when the system grew up, 
to interpose and settle the controversy.^ 

The danger to our polity from this liability is very great. 
It impairs the advice of councils, and if it should be held as 
sound Congregationalism that an ordaining council, called for 
the purpose, by laying hands on a man puts him into good 
and regular standing in the Congregational ministry, from 
which he can not be removed but by a council duly called for 
that very purpose, as has been maintained,^ then not only 
purity but also fellowship is endangered by such packed 
councils.^ 

2* Life of President Edwards, Works, i, 36. 

25 Hubbard's ffistory N. E., 16 Mass. mst. Col. 608, 609. 

26 Result of Stanton (Mich.) Council. The Congregationalist, May 24, 1882. 

27 New Englander, 1883, 485-487. 



282 THE CHUECH- KINGDOM. 

For these reasons, as for others (§ 185), a mmister's stand- 
ing (§ 122) should be held in an association of churches, 
secured by vote on proper credentials (§§ 122, 124, 213), to 
which he is amenable as a minister, but not as a church 
member (§§162: 2; 185); and he should not be held or 
treated as in full connection with the fraternity of Congre- 
gational churches until this standing has been secured. If 
any association unjustly refuse to admit him into such minis- 
terial standing or wrongfully expel him from it, he has the 
right of asking it to join him in calling a mutual council, to 
consider the whole case from the beginning, in order to ad- 
vise his admission or restoration or to depose him from the 
ministry. This method provides a complete remedy from 
packed councils of ordination and installation, and ample 
security and relief if a minister be unjustly deprived of 
ministerial standing, with full freedom from centralization. 

§ 199. Can an association be a party in the calling of 
a council ? We may answer : (1) That whatever concerns 
the churches may be the ground of a council. If a thing be 
of common well-being, the churches may sit in council upon 
it. And the parties most affected or involved are the ones 
that should invite the churches to give their advice in the 
matter. (2) Past usage can not prevent needed changes 
(§ 195). If it could, then a living infallible pope were 
better than an unchangeable custom. Usage is not superior 
to principle and growth, and hence it must change, since 
Congregationalism is a living organism. (3) The past has 
had similar councils. We have already shown how the 
General Court of Massachusetts Bay, which was also a 
general association of the churches, called councils (§ 193 ; 
3, c, note). Besides, councils have been called by associa- 
tions of ministers, by towns, and by missionary societies.^^ 
There is nothing to hinder the calling of such councils, if 
there be a general need of them. (4) That there is such 
need is easily made apparent. Ministerial standing of some 

28 Dexter's Congregationalism in Lit. 526, 527; Upham's Ratio Disciplinae, § 93. 



ASSOCIATIONS AND COUNCILS. 283 

sort is now held largely in associations of churclies or of 
ministers.^^ Ministers have been expelled from them, either 
after a fair inquiry or without a fair hearing, possibly no notice 
having been given them ; and their expulsion is published 
in the papers to their great damage. If they are unjustly 
dealt with in such exclusion, how shall the wrong be ascer- 
tained and redressed ? There is only one ecclesiastical way 
of redress in our polity equal and fair to both the parties 
involved (§ 124 : 7). If redress be sought in the civil courts 
on a suit for libel or slander, or in a mandamus ordering 
their restoration to membership, the expense is great, the 
result probably adverse,^^ and our polity is put to shame. If 
a church call a council on the case, its action therein is indi- 
rect and inadequate. Each such case can be covered and 
full redress rendered only by a mutual council called by the 
two parties involved, the minister suspended or expelled or 
excluded and the association or conference doing the alleged 
wrong. Neither civil courts nor other councils meet the re- 
quirements of the case. Hence justice and polity alike 
demand that in such cases at least associations be parties in 
the calling of councils. Nothing else will satisfy. (5) This 
change adjusts our polity to its expanding conditions. In- 
stallation, if it were universal in the pastorate, could not be 
the security necessary, because such councils are liable to be 
packed. But installation reaches only a third of our pastors; 
and less than one fourth of our ministers. There is a de- 
mand, founded in ordination itself as the recognition of the 
ministerial call and function, that ministers hold somewhere 
a constant accountable standing. Our principles place that 
accountable standing in associations of churches (§ 124: 
6). In some places it is held in associations of ministers.^^ 
These associations can certify their members to the State 
Minutes and the National Year Books ; and can receive, dis- 

29 43 Bib. Sacra, 416-420. 

30 Shurtleff vs. Stevens, 51 Vt. 501; 31 Am. Reports, 704; 37 Mich. Reports, 542. 

31 9 Cong. Quart. 194; 51 Vt. Repts. 501. 



284 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

miss, try, and expel them for cause. And lest injustice be 
done a minister by refusal to receive or by expulsion, the 
right of appeal should be had, not to the State Association 
and then to the National Council, but directly to the churches, 
in and through a council mutually chosen, which may review 
the whole case and advise restoration or deposition from the 
ministry. Such a council is in harmony with our principles, 
meets a defect in our polity, satisfies the necessities arising 
from the wide extension and rapid increase of our churches, 
and gives both purity and liberty without centralization. 
It has received national recognition (§ 124: 8). 

§ 200. What part have councils of churches in the disci- 
pline of ministers ? 

(1) In respect to Christian character and belief ministers 
are amenable to the churches of which they are members 
(§§ 131: 5; 162: 2), which may deal with them in that 
regard as with other members, with (§ 194 : 10, a^ 11, a) or 
without calling in the advice of a council. But while 
churches have this right, they need to remember that those 
called into the ministry of the Word have far higher qualifi- 
cations (§ 119 : 1-6) than believers need, to become church 
members, which qualifications are recognized in their ordina- 
tion (§ 121 : 1-6). Their ordination thus places them in pecu- 
liar relations with all churches, since it is not the recognition 
of a pastoral relation (§ 121 : 4), but of a divine call and 
ministerial function (§ 113). Thereafter they are recognized 
as ministers by all churches in connection, whose peace and 
welfare are largely dependent on the belief and conduct of 
said ministers. On this relation is properly built up in all 
polities accountable ministerial standing (§§ 122, 123), which 
takes their discipline, as ministers, out of the hands of the 
local churches of which they are members, and puts it into 
the hands of some association or council of churches. 

(2) This principle was definitely affirmed with only one 
dissentient vote, by our churches in National Council at St. 
Louis, in 1880, in the passage of the following resolutions : — 



1 



'' THE INALIENABLE BIGHT:' 285 

" Resolved (1), That a pro re nata council is the origin of 
ministerial standing in our fellowship, and the ultimate resort 
in all cases of question. 

" Resolved (2), That the continued certification of minis- 
terial standing may well be left to the ministerial associa- 
tions or the organizations of churches. 

" Resolved (3), That the body of churches in any locality 
have the inalienable right of extending ministerial fellowship 
to, or withholding fellowship from, any person within their 
bounds, no matter what his relations may be in church mem- 
bership or ecclesiastical affiliations, the proceedings to be 
commenced by any church, and to be conducted with due 
regard to equity." ^^ 

This is a clear and emphatic enunciation of ministerial 
accountability, as ministers, to the body of churches in any 
locality where they may labor, whatever their relations as 
church members may be. It is so certain and real a thing 
that it is " the inalienable right " of the churches in an}^ 
locality to bring them to account for heresy or misconduct. 
This right resides in the body of the churches in the locality 
where the offence is committed. 

(3) The method of putting this inalienable right into 
operation for clearing the churches of unworthy ministers 
is manifestly separable from the right itself. The right may 
be exercised in one way at one time and place, and in 
another way at another time and place. The right must not 
be confounded with the method of exercising it. The 
method indicated in the resolutions is through a council 
called for the purpose, the proceedings to be commenced 
by any church. This method is so defective as to render 
the right which is inalienable practically inoperative, (jx) 
A church may possibly, in rare instances, deal with its own 
pastor in discipline, but it is safe to say that it will never 
begin proceedings against the pastor of a neighboring 
church. If asked to do this, it will demur. (J) No better 

32 Minutes National Council for 1880, 17. 



286 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

device for stirring up strife between two churches was ever 
imagined than the one given in these resolutions of the 
National Council, making it the duty of one church to begin 
proceedings against the pastor of a sister church, (c) A 
similar process for dealing with a wayward church,^ instead 
of its pastor, has been tried a few times, stirring up the 
bitterest animosity and utterly failing of good results. A 
recent attempt closes this method.^ The more difficult task 
of one church attempting to discipline by a council of 
churches another church's pastor has, we believe, never been 
undertaken ; and it is safe to predict that it will never be 
undertaken. For : — 

(4) This inalienable right of the churches in any locality 
to give or withhold fellowship may be exercised in a far 
easier and better way. It is by requiring that ministerial 
standing be held in the association of churches of any 
locality, in order to full connection in the Congregational 
ministry. If a minister be not in such associational connec- 
tion, though ordained by a council of churches and a pastor 
of a Congregational church, he should be reported in Min- 
utes and Year Books as not in connection, and for whom, 
consequently, our associated churches are not to be held 
accountable. If he be expelled from such connection, he 
may, if aggrieved, find redress in a mutual or ex parte 
council. 

(5) Councils have, therefore, an important part to act in 
the discipline of ministers. If a minister still be in min- 
isterial standing and a church begin process against him as 
a church member, it should not complete it without ask- 
ing him to join in calling a mutual council, since he is more 

33 Camb. Plat. XV, 2 [3J. 

3* The Church of the Pilgrims and the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., united in beginning process against the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
in 1873, which resulted in a large council called by them in 1874. This council accom- 
plished nothing. Other attempts were made or suggested, when the Plymouth Church 
called a council, in 1876, which closed the case. This conspicnous failure of " the third 
way" will prevent any church from beginning proceedings against the pastor of 
another church through a council of churches. 



DEPOSITION FROM THE MINISTBY. 287 

than a church member, and his wider relations as a minister 
require this wider treatment of his case. If any church 
should begin process against him as a minister, it should ask 
him to join in a mutual council to try the case. If an asso- 
ciation expel him or refuse to admit him, he should ask the 
association to join in calling a mutual council, to re\dew the 
case. If in any case a mutual council be refused, an ex 'parte 
council may be called. Thus in every form of process the 
ultimate resort is to a^ro re nata council of churches. 

So if a church be unjustly excluded or expelled from an 
association, it may, on the same principle and inalienable 
rio^ht, ask the association for a mutual council, and that be- 
ing unjustly denied, may call an ex parte council (§ 194 : 10). 

§ 201. May a council of churches depose from the minis- 
try ? In order to answer this question, we must refer back 
to the ministerial function and ordination. 

(1) The ministerial function is far more than the pastoral 
relation, as we have shown (§ 113). It is not something 
conferred by man, and it can not, therefore, be taken away 
by man. 

(2) Ordination is the ecclesiastical recognition of the 
ministerial function and call (§ 121 : 4). If we make the 
ministerial function identical with the pastoral relation, then 
ordination becomes only inauguration, and removal from 
office is deposition from the ministry. Any church may 
then depose its pastor. This was the case in the pastoral 
theory of the ministry, held for a time by our churches, but 
soon abandoned as untenable. While this theory was held, 
deposition was strictly removal from office, by which the 
pastor was made a layman again ; but this theory of the 
ministry was so narrow that writers found great difficulty in 
keeping witliin it so as to be consistent in their statements. 

(3) If ordination were a conferring of the Holy Ghost, 
the imprinting of a character, the imparting by the laying on 
of hands of a special grace, then deposition, whether by a 
church or by a council of churches, would be the withdrawal 



288 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

of the Holy Gliost, the erasure of the character, and the 
removal of the grace. But our churches have never be- 
lieved in such ordination and deposition. 

(4) Hence, as ordination is the recognition by prayer and 
the imposition of hands of the qualifications, the call, and 
the function of a minister, as conferred by Christ, so the 
deposition of a man from the ministry is the withdrawal of 
such ecclesiastical recognition (§ 121 : 3, 4) when once 
given. And this should be done by a council of churches, 
if the recognition in ordination was so given, which has of 
late years been the case. But 

§ 202. May not councils give place to associations of 
churches in ordaining and deposing ministers ? 

(1) There is nothing in the nature of the case to prevent 
this change. The churches in any locality may, in the exer- 
cise of their inalienable right, extend fellowsliip to a man in 
ordination or withhold it from him in deposition through 
an association that meets statedly, as well as through a coun- 
cil that meets occasionally. The same churches do it in 
either case, and a council has no greater warrant than an 
association, if as good. 

(2) There are reasons why an association can ordain and 
depose better than a council of churches. These reasons 
are : (a) The association embraces the churches in any 
locality, while the council may include only a part of them, 
or go entirely beyond their number. Thus the inalienable 
right of the churches in any locality to extend or withhold 
fellowship finds a far safer expression in associations than in 
councils. Indeed, councils sometimes not only ignore this 
right, but contemn and defy it. (6) If an association make 
a mistake in ordination or deposition, it can correct it, and 
both will be recorded in the same journal for preservation 
and inspection — the same body correcting its own mistake. 
But if a council, doing the same things, commit a blunder, 
it can not after adjournment correct it. Another council 
must be called to do that. So it is one council against 



COUXCILS VERSUS ASSOCIATIONS. 289 

another council. Besides, the results of both councils, being' 
nowhere recorded, unless by the churches calling them, are 
soon lost altogether, or no one knows where to find them. 
True, in some states efforts are made to preserve them, but 
probably in no state are the collections complete, while in 
many states no effort is made to preserve them, (c) The 
independence of the chuixhes is not mterfered with by 
either method. Each church can have whom it pleases as 
pastor. If the association will not ordain whom the church 
wants, the church is in the same condition precisely as if the 
same churches in council had refused to ordain him. If the 
church, to ordain a man under such circumstances, go be- 
yond the boundary of the association for a council, or pick 
a council from within the association, it defies the inahena- 
ble right of those churches in the locality, which can not be 
held to be a gain for councils. Instead, it is better for the 
church to fall back upon its own inalienable right to elect 
and inaugurate its own officers by ordination, remembering 
that it may itself be cut off in consequence from the associa- 
tion and all church fellowship for ^T.olation of its covenant 
with the churches in connection, (c?) In case of ordination 
by the association of churches, expulsion after trial by a 
similar body would be deposition from the ministry. It 
would be the withdi^awal of recognition by the churches of 
the man's call and function as a minister, from which action^ 
as we have seen (§ 200 : 5), appeal may be taken to a 
mutual council. (/) The expense in time and money of 
councils of ordination and deposition, when the churches 
have stated meetings in associations, becomes a reason why 
the association should do the work, if consistent with princi- 
ple. This reason is apparent in the western states and 
territories. 

(3) The objections to ordination and deposition by asso- 
ciations do not, in our judgment, outweigh the reasons in 
favor of such action. If it be said that it be centralizing- 
and Presbyterianizing, the denial is ample, and ^vill be given 
hereafter (§§ 210, 249). 



290 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 203. May not councils of installation give place to coun- 
cils of recognition ? Installation is re-ordination, and came 
into vogue partly in consequence of the pastoral theory of 
the ministry, which made a pastor a layman when out of 
offi.ce, and required re-ordination when taking another church, 
and partly as a guard to purity. It has two elements, a legal 
and an ecclesiastical element. Installation in some states 
legally binds a church society in a contract with its pastor 
which can be dissolved only in one of the following four 
ways : (1) by death ; (2) by mutual consent ; (3) by a 
mutual council ; and (4) by an ex parte council, a mutual 
council having been refused.^ This legal element is easily 
separable from the ecclesiastical element as foreign, unneces- 
sary, and disturbing ; it can be dropped and leave the eccle- 
siastical in full force. But if a council be necessary to 
dismiss an installed pastor in an ecclesiastical sense, then 
installation should give place to recognition ; for when a 
pastor's resignation has been accepted, there is nothing for a 
council of dismissal to do but to advise what has been 
already done and to give papers that may serve as creden- 
tials. If councils of installation are to be continued, they 
should drop their legal element and require no dismissing 
council, except in cases of trouble or charges of heresy 
or immorality ; that is, they should become councils of 
recognition. 

§ 204. Are councils adequate safeguards of purity ? It 
was said in the report of a committee made to the National 
Council, in 1883, that " the churches of the East have de- 
pended entirely upon the action of councils for ordination 
and installation as the safeguards of the purity of the minis- 
try." 36 

(1) Councils of installation reach but a fraction of the 
ministry in active pastoral work. In 1886 the installed 
pastors in New England were only fifty-one per cent, 
of those in pastoral work, and only thirty-seven per 

36 Buck's Mass. Eccl. Law, 212, 213. 36 Minutes, 162. 



INADEQUACY AND DECADENCE OF COUNCILS, 291 

cent, of all Congregational ministers; while out of New 
England in the United States, installation reaches only twenty 
per cent, of our pastors, and fourteen per cent, of all 
the ministers.^'' That is, in New England a bare majority of 
our churches, and in the rest of the country only one fifth of 
them, are protected by the safeguard of installation. In 
1857, when the statistics of our churches were first published, 
seventy-three per cent, of our pastors in New England were 
installed, and fifty-four per cent, of all our ministers there. 
Such being the facts, the churches there can not much longer 
depend entii^ely on councils of ordination and installation for 
safeguards of purity. Indeed, wisdom demands that those 
states begin finding -some better safeguard, or soon their 
churches will be defenceless. 

(2) This decadence in installations has come about in the 
face of the most persistent efforts to encourage the churches 
to call such councils. As a means to this end reports in our 
Year Books have divided pastors into two classes, " pastors " 
and " acting pastors," and the Boston Council, in 1865, de- 
clared installation necessary to the recognition of a preacher 
as a pastor.^ It can hardly be hoped that since the churches 
have stated fellowship in their associations, they will ever 
return to councils in addition as safeguards of purity ; since 
a comprehensive, inexpensive, normal, and adequate safe- 
guard is found in ministerial standing in associations of 
churches. 

(3) No safeguard which reaches only a small proportion 
of ministers and churches, and is failing in spite of every 

37 During the last thirty years strenuous efforts have been made iu papers, associa- 
tions, and councils to induce the churches to install their pastors. The result is indi- 
cated in the following table, in the making of which the " unspecified " for the years 
1857 and 1867 are divided onettiird to " pastors," and two thirds to " acting pastors." 

Per cent, of the installed : 

Tear. Pastors. Acting Pastors. Ministers. Of Pastors. Of Ministers. 

1857 1,025 706 2,350 59.2 40.5 

1867 887 1,111 2,879 44.4 30.8 

1877 889 1,474 3,406 39.0 26.1 

1885 954 1,910 4,043 33.3 23.6 
This shows a steady and great relative decline in installations. 

38 Boston Plat, part iii, chap, ii, 7 [2]. 



292 THE CHUBCH- KIJSfGDOM. 

device to sustain it, can be adequate, and no such safeguard 
should be relied on any longer than is needful for adjustment 
to a better way. The ease with which councils can be packed, 
their unfitness for careful inquiry on the eve of installations, 
their tendency to stir up strife by hasty action, the fact that 
if one council fail to do the will of a church another can be 
called to do it, their narrow scope, their expense in coun- 
tries with few churches, their politico-ecclesiastical origin, 

— these and some other things render it evident that councils, 
except for adjustment of troubles and the discipline of min- 
isters or churches, will ultimately cease. 

CHURCH FELLOWSHIP IN MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 

§ 205. Ministerial associations only indirectly express the 
fellowship of the churches ; but as they stand between occa- 
sional councils and stated associations of the churches, for 
which they prepared the way in this country, we call atten- 
tion to them. 

(1) When the ministers within a small or large district 
organize into an association with or without a written consti- 
tution or rules or covenant, the body so formed is a ministerial 
association. 

(2) Such associations sprang out of the unity of the 
church-kingdom conjoined with the circumstances in which 
our polity developed in this country. They originated in 
the conflict of the law of fellowship with the fears of cen- 
tralization, natural in those separating from persecuting 
state establishments. The exact date of their formation is 
unknown. There is notice of one as early as 1633. ^^ These 

39 1« We find the following in the journal of Governor Winthrop, under the early date 
of 16a3 : ' The ministers in the Bay and Saugus did meet once a fortnight at one of their 
houses by course, where some question of moment was debated.' " — Hist. Essex North 
Ass'n of Mass., by Rev. S. J. Spaulding, 9. " In 1641-1642 Letchford, in his Plain 
Dealing, says : ' Of late, divers of the ministers have had set meetings to order church 
matters; whereby it is conceived they bend toward Presbyterian rule.' In 1643 
there was an assembly called at Cambridge of all the pastors in the country, some 
fifty in all. 'The principle occasion ' of which, says Winthrop, ' was because some of 
the elders were about to set up some things according to the presbytery, as of New- 
bury, etc' The assembly concluded against some parts of the presbyterial way." 

— Ibid. 10. 



MINISTEBIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 293 

meetings of ministers were, however, soon discontinued, 
through, the fear, on the part of the churches, of ministerial 
power. The first whose existence can be traced in a regu- 
larly organized form probably embraced the ministers in and 
around Boston, and whose earliest recorded date is 1655. 
The synod of Cambridge met in 1647, and issued in 1648 
a platform of church discipline which allayed the fears of 
the churches lest a presbytery should be set up over them. 
Thereafter ministerial associations flourished.^ 

(3) The object of ministerial associations was at first and 
chiefly professional, and not ecclesiastical. Rev. Thomas 
Shepard, 1672, described their object in these words: 
" Nothing that was difficult or questionable or weighty or 
new, or that had an influence upon the whole^ but they were 
wont to consult with one another."^ The object is thus 
stated in the oldest constitution extant, we believe : " For 
promoting the gospel and our mutual assistance and further- 
ance in that great work " ; " yet the members were bound 
'to submit to the coimsel, reproofs, and censures of the 
brethren so associated and assembled in all things in the 
Lord.' " ^ This rule implies that said association was more 
than a professional club. 

(4) Ministerial standing came to be held in some of these 
associations. The General Association of Connecticut, in 
1812, appointed a committee to consider the question of the 
ecclesiastical standing of ministers dismissed from churches, 
who were members of associations, and report. That com- 
mittee reported, in 1813, declaring that a dismissed minister 
is amenable to the association to which he belonged, after 
dismissal from a church the same as before. This report was 
adopted.^3 'pj^g confirms the implication above expressed, 

*o 2 Cong. Quart. 203, seq. Yet John Wise said, in 1710: "About thirty years ago, 
more or less, there was no appearance of the associations of pastors in these colonies 
and in some parts and places there is none yet." Hist. Essex North Ass'n, Mass. 10. 

"2 Cong. Quart. 204. 

42 Ibid. 205. They were bound also not to " relinquish the association, nor forsake 
the appointed meetings, without giving sufficient reason for the same." 

« Contrib. Eccl. mst. Ct. 328; 9 Cong. Quart. 194. 



294 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

and is an important action, as it is the first instance we have 
seen of asserted responsible ministerial membership in asso- 
ciations. It is in line with the subsequent decision of the 
Supreme Court of Vermont, which held that membership in 
some ministerial association, where they exist, is " considered 
among the churches as evidence of good ministerial stand- 
ing."^ Such associations receive members on credentials. 
(§ 213), give credentials on dismissal, try and expel them 
for cause. 

Rev. John Mitchell said, in 1838 : " But though an asso- 
ciation is not competent to depose a minister in form, it may 
do that which is virtually equivalent. It may declare him 
to have forfeited his standing with his brethren, and publish 
him as unworthy of the public confidence." ^^ But no asso- 
ciation can do this justly without a careful examination into 
the case. 

It is contrary to the principles of Congregationalism for 
ministerial standing (§ 124 : 5) to be held in ministerial 
bodies, thus separating it from the churches.*^ Hence the 
practice above referred to is dangerous, and ministerial 
standing should be held onlv in associations of churches 
(§ 124: 6). 

(5) Ministerial associations are temporary in our polity. 
They were the stepping-stones in this country between the 
independency that relied on the state ^^ and associations of 
independent churches. They secure the fellowship of the 
clergy, not of the churches, except through their pastors. 
So far as pastors acting in concerted cooperation could exer- 
cise authority over churches of our order, ministerial associa- 
tions gave opportunity for ministerial rule, instead of prelati- 
cal. And this opportunity they did not fail, occasionally, to 
improve, and try to exercise authority .^^ The churches^ 
however, are now coming more and more to the front, until. 

** Shurtleflf vs. Stevens, 51 Vt. 501; 31 Am. Repts. 704. 

<5 Guide to Princip. and Prac. Cong. Chhs. N. E. 234. 

« Pocket Manual, §§ 80, 83; New Englander (1883), 477-483. 

« Camb. Plat. xvii. « 7 Cong. Quarterly, 35, seq.. 



MmWTEBIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 295 

all our churches, in this and other lands, are gathered into 
fellowship through church associations,*^ supplanting ministe- 
rial associations. 

But it was not until the latter bodies had long existed in 
this country without exhibiting any natural and fatal ten- 
dency to centralization, or in any way endangering the liber- 
ties of the churches, that the churches ventured to enter 
upon a fuller, more normal and comprehensive form of fellow- 
ship in associations of their own by pastors and delegates^ 
which is destined to supplant ministerial associations and 
abide as the permanent form. 

CHURCH FELLOWSHIP IN ASSOCIATIONS OF CHURCHES. 

§ 206. An association of churches is the stated meeting 
of churches by pastors and delegates, and of such other 
ministers as may be members of it, under a constitution or 
covenant, expressed or understood, limiting its membership^, 
objects, and functions. They are named differently in differ- 
ent places. An examination of the local associations reveals 
the general name conference in this country, while elsewhere 
they are called with rare, if any, exceptions unions or asso- 
ciations. The state bodies are generally called associations. 
The national bodies are called National Council in the^ 
United States, and Unions elsewhere. An ecumenical 
gathering has not yet been held, and so has not beeu 
named. 

§ 207. The importance of church associations can not be^ 
over-estimated. They are the normal expression of church 
fellowship without the narrow limitations of councils. Hence 
they must increase while councils and ministerial associations, 
must decrease. They bind all our churches together in free 
and equal fellowship and labor, without damage to their 
liberties. Each church, without dictation, inspection, or 
review, may still manage its own affairs, conducting all busi- 
ness pertaining to itself, and at the same time hold stated 

49 43 Bib. Sacra, 417-420. 



296 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

fellowsliip with all other churches and cooperate with them 
in all common concerns, as educational, benevolent, and mis- 
sionary work. In these church associations the greatest 
liberty and the widest unity are combined, with a possible 
comprehension equal to the church-kingdom on earth of 
our Lord Jesus Christ — a solution which all churches for 
.eighteen centuries have been seeking. 

§ 208. The origin of church associations is not found in 
the council held at Jerusalem in the times of the apostles 
(Acts 15 : 1-29), for those churches probably never met in 
council again. Yet that one act of conference for the com- 
mon good is in part the warrant for stated meetings of the 
churches. The full warrant is found in the unity of the 
church-kingdom, the law of fellowship, and the sacerdotal 
prayer of Clirist (John 17: 20-23). The churches in the 
early centuries had their informal synods, beginning in the 
second century. " Some prominent and influential bishop 
invited a few neighboring communities to confer with his 
own." "Not even the resolutions of the conference were 
binding on the dissentient minority of its members."^ 
"But no sooner had Christianity been recognized by the 
state than such conferences tended to multiply, to become 
not occasional, but ordinary, and to pass resolutions which 
were regarded as binding upon the churches within the dis- 
trict from which representatives had come, and the accept- 
ance of which was regarded as a condition of intercommunion 
with the churches of other provinces." ^^ It was the state, 
not fellowship, that gave such associations authority. 

(1) In Massachusetts Bay Colony, for many years, the 
General Court was a stated ecclesiastical body as well as a 
legislative assembly. "It was but the whole body of the 
church legislating for its parts ; and this, with the important 
peculiarity that all the legislators by whom the church 
exercised its supreme power were of the laity. The system 
had no element of resemblance to prelacy or presbytery. It 

eo Hatch's Org. Early Chhs. 166, 167. " Ibid. 168. 



CHUBGH ASSOCIATIONS. 297 

^as pure democracy installed in the ecclesiastical govern- 
ment." ^2 xhis court was clothed with authority civil and 
€cclesiastical,^^ which it freely exercised.^ Our polity took 
its form under this ecclesiastical coercion, and when a sepa- 
ration occurred between the Church and the State, it was 
left crippled and defenceless in some important particulars.^^ 
In 1641 Massachusetts Colony adopted a code of laws, 
giving permission both for ministerial associations and for 
church associations. "It shall be lawful for the ministers 
^nd elders of the churches near adjoining together, with any 
■other of the brethren, with the consent of the churches, to 
assemble by course in each several church," " once in every 
month of the year," and after a sermon " the rest of the day 
may be spent in public Christian conference about the dis- 
cussing and resolving of any such doubts and cases of con- 
science, concerning matters of doctrine or worship or govern- 
ment of the church, as shall be propounded," etc.^ The 
same General Court, in 1662, in ordering a synod to be held, 
ordered it to settle, among other questions, this : " Whether, 
according to the Word of God, there ought to be a consocia- 
tion of churches, and what should be the manner of it?" 
" This . . . question was, unfortunately, returned to the sec- 
retary [of state] by the elders." ^^ The elders stifled this 
attempt of the laymen for church association. Had they 
answered, as did the Saybrook synod of Connecticut, in 1708, 
they might have combined, as they desired, " our churches 
in such a bundle of arrows as might not be easily broken ; " ^^ 
and that too without the Presbyterian element of the Say- 
brook Platform, or any foreign element whatever. 

(2) The earliest associations of churches in America, of 
our order, are, we believe, the following : The Susquehannah 
Association, 1803 ; ^^ and the Black River Association, 

52 Palfrey's Hist. New Eng. ii, 40. "s Camb. Plat. xvii. 

w New Englander, 1883, 468-473. ss Ibid. 473-476. 

66 Felt's Eccl. mst. New Eng. i, 440. e? col. Records of Mass. iv. part ii, 38. 

68 Felt's Eccl. Hist. New Eng. ii, 296. 

69 16 Cong. Quart. 285, 286. 



298 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM, 

1808 ; 60 both of New York. The Brookfield Ministerial As- 
sociation, Mass., in 1820, invited the churches severally to 
send a lay delegate annually to its June meetings. The 
churches have done so since 1821.^1 The York County Con- 
ference, Maine, was organized with lay delegates in 1822.^ 
Others soon followed. 

Of the state bodies, the Convention of Vermont, in 1817, 
appointed a committee to investigate the question of admit- 
ting lay delegates, which reported the next year no decisive 
recommendation. But in 1822 the constitution of the body 
was so altered as to admit laymen. The Conference of 
Ehode Island bears on its roll for 1823 lay delegates. The 
General Conference of Maine was organized in 1826, and 
admitted laymen, followed by others. 

There seems to have been a general and spontaneous 
movement for the stated fellowship of churches in the first 
quarter of this century. And those first formed had in 
themselves the potency and promise of state, national, and 
ecumenical associations of churches. 

(3) We have never fully inquired into the origin of this 
system in England and her colonies. At a conference held 
in Jacob's Church, in 1616, it was declared : " We acknowl- 
edge . . . that on occasion there ought to be, on earth, 
a consociation of congregations or churches . . . but not 
a subordination," etc.^^ But the oldest existing district asso- 
ciation of churches in England was formed in 1781 ; that in 
Ireland, in 1829 ; that in Scotland, in 1872. 

§ 209. The membership and functions of church associa- 
tions are defined in the articles of agreement or covenant on 
which they are formed. Each church is entitled to the same 
number of representatives, because it is the church as such, 
and not its membership, that constitutes the ground and law 
of fellowship. A rule regulating the number of delegates 
by the size of the church in whole or in part, we have else- 

00 20 Cong. Quart. 577, 578. «i 20 Cong. Quart. 535. 

«2 6 Cong. Quart. 187, seq. es Hanbury's Memorials, I, 295. 



CHUBCH ASSOCIATIONS CONTBOL FELLOWSHIP. 299 

where denominated a dangerous principle in Congregational 
fellowship.^* These associations manifest forth the individu- 
ality of the churches by giving the same membership in them 
to a small church as to a large, and at the same time show 
forth their unity in essential life, belief, and labor. They 
may do this in enlarging circles, until they attain ecumenical 
comprehension. They are not confined to one specified ob- 
ject, as councils are, but can embrace whatever business con- 
cerns the churches in common, while guarding jealously the 
rights and liberties of each as an independent body under 
Christ Jesus. 

It is held as " an inalienable right of the churches in any 
locality " to extend fellowship to, or withhold it from, any 
minister or church (§ 200 : 2). This can be done as safely, 
more economically and certainly through stated associations 
than through occasional councils (§ 202 : 2). If this be the 
right of the whole body of churches in any locality, it is an 
infringement of this right for a church to select a council 
either from abroad or from a part of the neighboring 
churches. Yet in calling many councils there is this in- 
fringement. Members may be gathered from Boston to^ 
Kansas into a council which shall in fact defy the churches 
in the vicinity. Hence, as we have shown (§ 202 : 1-3), or- 
dination, ministerial discipline, and deposition (§ 201 : 1-4) 
may be wisely committed to churches in association ; rather, 
may be wisely assumed by them. Then the churches in the 
locality would be, and would be held to be, responsible for the 
standing of ministers and churches therein. If any wrong 
be done, a mutual council may be called. 

This is not a new doctrine; for "some of the Baptist 
churches have an association with only advisory jurisdiction 
to which an appeal is made, leaving each congregation inde- 
pendent and supreme ; " ^^ and their polity is like ours. An 

«* New Englander, 1878, 514. 

65 Hon. Wm. Lawrence in 12 Am. Law Keg.N. S. 332, note; Baptist Ch. vs. Witherell, 
3 Paige, 296. 



300 THE CHUBCH- KINODOM. 

association logically should extend or withhold fellowship, as 
being in the locality and most concerned in the matter. 
This was seen by our ecclesiastical fathers, who would not 
ordain a minister or form a church without the consent or 
approval of neighboring churches. 

The same principle or inalienable right that applies to the 
extending or withholding of fellowship as respects minis- 
ters ^ applies also to churches that desire to join our church 
associations. 

§ 210. There is no authority over churches involved in 
such action by church associations. These associations rec- 
ognize the right of each church to administer its own affairs, - 
free from external control or inspection, even to the calling 
and ordaining and installing of its pastor ; and they by con- 
stitutional limitations refuse, in any case, to assume or exer- 
cise legislative power or juridical authority over churches or 
ministers, or to become a court of appeal. All this should 
be stoutly maintained. 

But in ordaining a man the association does not put him 
into any church or pulpit, as ordination once meant in early 
New England,^^ but simply recognizes his call by Christ, and 
his ministerial qualifications and function. No church need 
call him in consequence. His ordination does not in the 
least infringe upon the rights and liberties of the churches. 
If any church prefer a layman, it can call him to its pastor- 
ate and ask the association to ordain him, as it now asks 
a council to do the same ; and in either case it is the call 
and its acceptance that constitutes him a pastor, and not his 
ordination or even his installation. If the association refuse 
to ordain him, as a council might, the church may itself, in 
the exercise of its inherent right, ordain him and make him 
pastor. It has this right in all its plenitude ; for it is com- 
plete in itself under Christ to do all churchly acts. No one 
will interfere with this right. But when its pastor thus or- 
dained applies to the association for membership, the associa- 

60 Minutes National Council, 1880, 17. c7 Camb. Plat, ix, 2. 



CHUBCH ASSOCIATIONS CONTBOL FELLOWSHIP. 301 

tion that refused to ordain will refuse to admit him to 
ministerial standing therein, unless the impediment be 
removed. It will not interfere with his relation to the 
church that thus ordains him, but it will see to it that that 
church does not infringe upon the inalienable right of the 
other churches to extend or withhold fellowship as they may 
deem best. That church can not demand his recognition by 
the association ; but the association may, if the case warrant 
it, after patient waiting, proceed to expel the church itself 
for breaking covenant in ordaining and keeping a pastor 
whom the association can not fellowship. There is no exer- 
cise of authority here, but the application of a common right 
which all bodies possess. 

So if a member of an association, whether a church or 
a minister, violate the constitution of the body or its creed 
or covenant, that member may be tried, convicted, and ex- 
pelled for the offence, in the exercise of the common right 
that a body has to enforce the terms of membership upon its 
members. This is true if such expulsion be held to depose 
a minister (§ 201). In none of these cases is there the 
exercise of authority over a church. 

§ 211. In case of expulsion the process should be the 
same for a church as for a minister. It may become neces- 
sary for an association to expel a member, either a church or 
a ministerial member, to clear itself from complicity in heresy 
or immorality, and it should act as becomes a body of Chris- 
tian churches, with due regard to forbearance and justice and 
mercy. 

(1) In either case the mode of expulsion depends upon 
the mode of admission. If the churches of any locality 
could, in virtue of their calling themselves churches, associ- 
ate together without condition, each one forcing itself upon 
the rest with all its isms, and they having no right to 
exclude it, then of course the association so formed would 
be helpless. It could not exclude the most heretical and 
disorderly gathering calling itself a church. But such a 



302 THE GHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

claim as this is unscriptural (§ 94 : 1-3) and irrational and 
impossible. There must, then, be a covenant of union, either 
embodied in a constitution or understood, on which the asso- 
ciation of churches is effected, to which every member 
assents. If any member becomes a covenant-breaker, that 
member, whether church or minister, may be expelled as 
such from the body. 

As a matter of fact churches and ministers join the asso- 
ciation on credentials (§ 213) and by the special vote 
of the body. Usually the application, with the credentials, is 
referred to a special committee to report upon. If that com- 
mittee have reason to question the fitness of the applicant, it 
can and should take ample time to ascertain the facts, if it 
takes six months or a year, and report. On their report the 
application is accepted or rejected, and the church or minis- 
ter admitted or excluded. The inquiry covers creed, belief, 
ministerial character and standing, whatever is needful to be 
known. 

(2) If a member, whether church or minister, violates the 
conditions of membership, the association is in duty bound 
to notice the offence and deal with the offender. But as 
such associations are not strictly voluntary societies, but are 
required to express the law of fellowship and the unity of 
the church-kingdom, the association is required to labor with 
the offender according to Christ's rule (Matt. 18 : 15-18), 
if possible to win the church or minister back to truth and 
purity. It were both unbrotherly and unjust to expel, 
except for public scandals (§ 167), without trying to 
reclaim and save. If these labors fail to reclaim, the case 
should be reported to the association, tried, and the proper 
censure passed. It were unchristian to read letters crimi- 
nating the party and then to act on them without giving the 
accused a full opportunity to be heard. The trial should be 
conducted as a church trial (§ 173). 

(3) We need here to distinguish between pastoral repre-v 
sentation and ministerial membership or standing in an 



MINI8TEBIAL STANDING AND MEMBEBSHIP. 303 

association of churches. A church in connection is usually 
entitled to be represented in the meetings of the association 
by its pastor and one or more delegates. The church is the 
member of the body, and the pastor and delegates are its 
representatives ; and its pastor, as such, has no more right 
and membership in the body than the delegates possess. 
Such membership gives him no standing in the body and 
entitles him to no credentials. His church has standing and 
can be dismissed with credentials or expelled ; and such dis- 
missal or expulsion takes its pastor and delegates out of the 
body, unless the pastor has also ministerial membership or 
standing therein. This ministerial standing and membership 
(§ 122) is effected by vote of the association on cre- 
dentials (§ 213), and it entitles a minister to creden- 
tials on leaving the body, or to a trial and expulsion. This 
membership is distinct from any relation he may sustain to 
a church, and should not, therefore, be confounded with it. 
A minister may indeed be expelled from an association as a 
ministerial member, and yet appear as the pastoral repre- 
sentative of his church in the same association, in virtue of 
his pastorate, until the association shall deal with the church 
for having as pastor an expelled minister. This anomaly 
will, however, rarely occur. 

(4) If a church or minister, after trial, be expelled from an 
association, they are cut off from connection and standing 
with Congregational churches. They remain a church and, 
possibly, a minister still, but we withdraw our recognition from 
them (§ 121 : 3, 4), and can not be held accountable for 
them. A church so expelled should be dropped from our 
minutes and Year Books as no longer a Congregational 
church ; and a minister so expelled should be dropped from 
the minutes and Year Books as no longer a Congregational 
minister. If a church in connection employ or call such a 
minister as pastor, his name should go into the statistical 
tables against the name of that church, but marked with a 
star (*), with a foot-note giving the fact of his expulsion ; 



304 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

as, " Expelled from Association ; " but it should not 

go into the list of Congregational ministers for whom our 
churches are responsible. Such a note accords with the fact, 
and brings a constant pressure upon the church and its 
minister to recover, if possible, his ministerial standing 
again. If a minister has not joined an association, he 
should be designated by a foot-note as unconnected or as a. 
member of some other body. Thus our churches in any 
locality are made responsible only for those in connection,, 
who should be reported in the minutes in an alphabetical 
list, as also the churches. 

§ 212. If in either exclusion or expulsion injustice b& 
alleged to have been done, relief may be had, as we have^ 
before stated in case of ministers (§ 200 : 4), in a mu- 
tual council called by the association and the minister or 
church aggrieved, or claiming to be aggrieved, from churches 
beyond the bounds of the association, whose findings and 
result shall be final. 

If the action of the association be approved by the coun- 
cil, the church or minister remains disfellowshiped ; if the- 
action of the association be condemned, the association 
should restore or admit the party to membership, but if it 
refuse, the action or result of the mutual council becomes 
good credentials, on which any other association is warranted 
in receiving the aggrieved. 

§ 213. And by credentials we mean such papers and 
documents as the creed and standing rules of a church; 
ordination, installation, and dismissal papers, if issued by 
a council ; certificates of transfer from one association or 
coordinate body to another, and the favorable result of a 
mutual or ex "parte council duly called for relief, as given 
under the preceding head. All papers that define a minis- 
ter's standing or a church's standing in some association or 
coordinate body as good and regular are credentials. 

A minister's credentials, if given by a presbytery or 
similar body, contain both his church membership and his- 



THE NATIONAL COUNCIL AND PUBITT. 305 

ministerial standing and membership ; and hence they are 
not discharged of their true and full contents until the 
bearer of them is admitted on them both into membership 
in a local church and into membership in an association of 
churches. A minister bringing them should not, therefore, 
unite with a church on profession of faith, but on his 
credentials. 

Our churches have been slowly feeling their way to this 
associational method of fellowship and security. We have 
noted the late origin of church associations in this country 
(§ 208 : 1, 2), and their rapid spread. In 1850 the Gen- 
eral Association of the Congregational Churches and Minis- 
ters of Michigan changed its constitution, so that since then 
no minister has had membership therein unless a member of 
a local association or conference within the state, and in 
1855 it began publishing a list of such responsible members, 
which it has continued to the present time. Care in making 
up lists of ministers responsible through associational con- 
nection will render this safeguard of purity of the utmost 
value. A star (*) should mean more than it does. 

§ 214. The National Council at its organization, in 1871, 
declared that " all ministers in our denomination ought to be 
in orderly connection with some ministerial or ecclesiastical 
organization which shall be able to certify to their regular 
standing in the ministry," and warned the churches against 
employing any others.^^ It repeated the warning in 1877.^^ 
These warnings still stand. The lists of ministers in our 
Year Books have recognized this standing in associations of 
ministers or of churches. The same is true in England. 
There the list is expressly limited to " only such names as 
are officially furnished from year to year by the secretaries 
of county associations or unions." The method has been 
found needful in the natural working of the fellowship of 
untrammeled, independent churches. It has had only a 
recent statement. But the principle will develop into com- 
es Minutes. 60. «» Minutes, 24. 



306 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

pleteness ; for there is not in it a single element borrowed 
from another and foreign polity. It leaves the churches free 
and independent, while exhibiting in fellowship their unity 
and cooperation. There has been no case that we have 
heard of where an association of churches has attempted to 
exercise authority. When associations of churches ordain 
and discipline and depose under the limitations above given, 
our fellowship will be simplified. One step more remains to 
be added to the system,"*^ then our churches will meet in 
occasional or stated ecumenical councils. The isolation of 
our missionary churches demands this bond of fellowship. 
And the sooner it is established, the better for freedom and 
life. 

NOTE ON THE OKIGIN OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 

We have already referred to the character of the general 
courts of the New England colonies as both civil and eccle- 
siastical (§§ 123, 208), and to the action of the General 
Court of Massachusetts in 1641 in favor of church confer- 
ences for the resolving of doubts and cases of conscience 
(§ 208). Had this action grown up into associations of 
churches, as both Cotton and Hooker desired, the history of 
the Pilgrim polity would have had a more honorable place ; 
but it failed. 

In 1642 the four New England colonies formed a confeder- 
ation under the name " The United Colonies of New Eng- 
land." This union was both civil and ecclesiastical, "a firm 
and perpetual league of friendship and amity for offence and 
defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, 
both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties 
of the gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare." '^^ 
As this union was the forerunner of the United States in its 
civil relations, it was also the forerunner of the National 
Council in its ecclesiastical relations. 

General councils of our churches have been held occasion- 

70 16 Cong. Quart. 291-303. ^i Palfi-ey's Hist. New Eng. i, 630. 



OBiam OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 307 

ally : One at Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass., in 1637 ; 
another at Cambridge, Mass., 1646-1648 ; a third at Albany, 
N. Y., 1852 ; a fourth at Boston, Mass., 1865. There have 
been also some important local councils, or synods: the 
Boston synod, 1662; the "Reforming synod," 1679, 1680; 
the Saybrook synod, 1708; the Michigan City convention, 
1846, called by the General Association of Michigan. It is 
claimed that this convention led directly to the calling of 
the Albany convention, six years later, and more remotely 
to the triennial National Council.'^^ 

In 1818 the General Association of Connecticut attempted 
to unite all the general associations of New England, not in 
an association, but in a " Committee of Union," to meet 
annually. Massachusetts approved; New Hampshire and 
Vermont declined the proposal. The committee met in 
1819, but in 1821 it recommended its own dissolution. Dr. 
Dexter calls the plan a fifth wheel ; ^^ but Dr. Quint says : 
" Had it succeeded it would have essentially united all our 
Congregational associations in one compact body, and 
changed our whole polity." ^^ It was purely ministerial, and 
rightly died. 

The Congregational Union of England and Wales, organ- 
ized in 1833, was naturally suggestive of a similar national 
body in the United States and other countries. 

Next to the influences of "ttie Holy Spirit, who makes all 
believers one and draws them into suitable manifestations 
of that unity, the Congregational churches of the United 
States owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to the founders 
and editors of The Congregational Quarterly. Their labors 
made the National Council possible, and fostered all the ele- 
ments which brought it into being and which have given 
permanency to it. Their names are worthy to be mentioned 
here : Reverends Joseph S. Clark, d.d., Henry M. Dexter, 
D.D., Alonzo H. Quint, d.d., Isaac P. Langworthy, d.d., and 

72 Introduction to Reprint of Minutes, by Rev. L. Smith Hobart, 5. 

■^3 Congregationalism, 226, note. "* 1 Cong. Quart. 48, 49. 



308 THE CEUBCH- KINGDOM, 

Cliristopher Gushing, d.d. Without their labors the Na- 
tional Council could not have been organized when it was. 
This Quarterly was begun in 1859 and died an untimely 
death in 1878. Its twenty volumes are a thesaurus of eccle- 
siastical information. 

But so far as is known to the writer, the honor of having 
first suggested the idea of a stated national gathering of the 
Congregational churches in this country belongs to Rev. 
Richard B. Thurston, whose youth and early ministry was 
spent among the founders of the Maine Conference. He 
then removed to Massachusetts and aided in the formation 
(1860) of the General Conference of that state, which was 
united with the General Association in 1868. Removing 
thence to Connecticut, he took an active part in the organi- 
zation of the General Conference therein (1867). Through 
these labors there arose in his mind the idea of a national 
stated meeting of our churches, which he broached to others 
in conversation. At length a call for the Pilgrim Memo- 
rial Convention was issued. Mr. Thurston, in reading it to 
his church, made known his hope respecting a permanent 
national conference ; his church, the First Church of Stam- 
ford, Conn., sent him as delegate to the said convention, 
which was held in Chicago April 27, 1870. He attended, 
and offered through the business committee of the body, the 
following: — * 

'-''Resolved^ That this Pilgrim Memorial Convention rec- 
ommend to the Congregational state conferences and asso- 
ciations, and to other local bodies, to unite in measures for 
instituting, on the principles of fellowship, excluding eccle- 
siastical authority, a permanent national conference." "^^ 

The resolution was adopted, we believe, unanimously and 
without discussion. In the June following the General Asso- 
ciations of Iowa and Indiana adopted similar general resolu- 
tions of approval. But " the General Conference of Ohio was 
the first to propose definite action. That conference appointed 

" Introd. Minutes National Council, 1871, 8; 12 Cong. Quart. 392; 13 Cong. Quart. 235. 



ORIGIN OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 309 

a committee (Rev. A. Hastings Ross being made chairman) 
to correspond with other state organizations and propose a 
convention to mature the plan." "'^ The plan here referred 
to was prepared and presented by the writer, and was unani- 
mously adopted by the conference and the committee ap- 
pointed. It is as follows : — 

" WJiereas^ The cause of the Master demands united coun- 
sels and efforts"; and, ivJiereas, our churches and polity have 
neither obtained [attained] the efficiency of which they are 
capable, nor exhibited the unity for which Christ prayed; 
therefore, 

" Resolved, That we hail with delight the movement to 
establish a national council of Congregational churches in 
the United States, to meet at stated times, but to have and 
exercise no ecclesiastical authority whatever. 

" Resolved, That we appoint a committee of seven to make 
overtures to the Congregational conferences and associations 
of the several states, and the officers of our denominational 
societies, respecting the formation of such national Congre- 
gational council on such basis of representation as shall be 
deemed best, and in accordance with the principles of our 
polity. 

" Resolved, That said committee be authorized to represent 
this Conference in any convention or conference which may 
be called before our next meeting, to mature this plan ; said 
committee to report to this Conference." ''^ 

These resolutions were adopted on June 16, 1870, only fifty 
days after the action at Chicago. They were communicated 
to all the state bodies by the chairman of the committee 
appointed for the purpose, with the request for action 
thereon. All the state bodies, therefore, acted expressly 
with reference to the establishment of a national council 
meeting " at stated times." " The several state organizations 
approved of the proposed national organization, and appointed 

" Introd. Minutes National Council, isn, 8; 12 Coug. Quart. 392; 13 Coug. Quart. 235. 
" Minutes, Conf. Ohio, 1870, 12, 13. 



310 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

committees." '^'^ The writer suggested to the General Associa- 
tion of New York the propriety of calling the several commit- 
tees to meet on December 21, 1870, " and its committee (Rev. 
L. Smith Hobart, chairman) issued circulars to that effect." 
This proposal and date were in the original Ohio resolutions^ 
but were stricken out before presentation, on the suggestion 
of Rev. Samuel Wolcott, d.d., as premature. On the invita- 
tion of the committee of the General Association of Massa- 
chusetts, a convention of committees was held in Boston, 
Mass., December 21, 1870. This convention, after hearing 
" the substance of the action taken by the several state confer- 
ences on the subject of a national council," adopted the 
following : — 

''''Resolved^ That it is expedient, and appears clearly to 
be the voice of the churches, that a national council of the 
Congregational churches of the United States be organ- 
ized." '8 

This convention prepared a draft of action necessary to 
the organization of such a body, which included name, ratio 
of representation, doctrinal and ecclesiastical basis, objects^ 
permanency, etc. It also 

" Resolved^ That the churches throughout the country be 
notified of the action of this convention, and be requested 
to authorize their representatives in conferences to choose 
delegates as above." "^ 

Every step in these preliminaries looked to the formation 
of a national body meeting statedly. As such, the churches 
approved it by electing delegates in response to the calL 
These delegates met as a council of the Congregational 
churches of the United States, in Oberlin, Ohio, November 
15, 1871. They organized provisionally, adopted a constitu- 
tion, providing for triennial sessions, under which they or- 
ganized as a permanent national council. 

The Ohio resolutions suggested the membership of our 
national societies in the council, which membership was alsa 

" Introd. Minute Nat. Council, 1871, 8. " ibid. 10. ^9 i^id. 12. 



OBIGIN OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 311 

advocated in The Congregational Review for September, 18T0 
(437, 438). 

But the growth of fellowship among free churches can not 
stop at national boundaries. That fellowship must extend 
to ecumenical unity, according to the prayer of Christ, that 
all may be one. Hence the writer has advocated an ecu- 
menical, or general, council of Congregational churches, in 
his lectures, since 1872, in the Oberlin Theological Semi- 
nary, in The Congregational Quarterly for 1874 (291-303), 
and in the Pocket Manual (1883). The time is near when 
such general council will be held, that the scattered free 
churches, and especially the mission free churches, may be 
strengthened by the bonds of a common fellowship. 



LECTURE XI. 

THE DOCTEINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. — ACTIVITIES 
AND RELATIONS. 

" Cro ye therefore, andmake disciples of all the nations: . . . And lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'^ — Jesus Christ. 

" Bender therefore unto Ccesar the things that are Ccesar^s; and unto God 
the things that are God^s.^^ —Jesus Christ. 

" Te are the salt of the earth.^'' "Ye are the light of the world." — Jesna 
Christ. 

§ 215. A CHURCH does not live for itself alone, nor 
even for sister churches. All churches unite in one church- 
kingdom, whose great commission is to "make disciples of 
all the nations " (Matt. 28 : 19), to "preach the gospel to the 
whole creation " (Mark 16 : 15). This comprehensive duty 
rests in its degree upon every believer and every church. It 
is enforced by the pertinent question of Paul : " How shall 
they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10: 14). At first 
ambassadors went every-where preaching, until all lands had 
heard of the gospel (Col. 1 : 6, 23). 

Christ has made the local churches the nerve-centers of 
Christian life and activity, the integers of organization and 
of evangelization (§ 42), and he will require the accomplish- 
ment of the work at their hands. 

§ 216. Some parts of this evangelization are laid upon 
each individual church to do separately. Each church con- 
trols its own worship (§ 159). It trains its own children in 
doctrine and in duty. Hence its Sunday-school, being a part 
of the church work, is under the control of the church in 
matters of lessons and of management. The church school 
is not an independent body, but is subject to church control. 

(1) The churches early gave great attention to the Chris- 
tian training of the young and ignorant. " To guard against 
the hasty admission of unworthy men, the churches, soon 



CHUBGH COOPEBATION. 313 

after the age of the apostles, gradually instituted a severe 
and protracted inquiry into the character and views of those 
who sought the privileges of their communion. They were 
put upon a course of instruction and discipline, more or less 
extended, before being received into the communion of the 
church." 1 The earliest manual of instruction extant is 
probably the " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," going back 
nearly to the beginning of the second century. The later 
manuals must have been more elaborate and profound. The 
catechumens constituted a church school, whether held on 
Sunday or on week-days. 

In the Pilgrim Church at Plymouth, as early as 1694, " the 
pastor attended the catechising of children on Sabbath noons, 
and continued it during his ministry." This was nearly a 
century before Robert Raikes began his ragged schools on 
Sunday, out of which the Sunday-school system is generally 
supposed to have grown. " In 1783 the church requested the 
deacons to catechise the children between meetings, which 
they did, and also the next year." ^ The importance of 
this system is indicated by its rapid spread in all commun- 
ions, and by the vast apparatus employed by it. Yet the 
school must not take the place of the church, or draw the 
children from the church services ; for in either case it 
weakens the church, if it does not destroy it. The undue 
working of the Sunday-school system in this regard has pro- 
duced a reaction ; for it has been feared that the school has 
been emptying the churches. The church must control the 
school and train its children to attend the church services 
regularly. 

(2) Each church must attend also to the evangelization of 
those within its immediate care or parish. No other church 
should crowd into this its special field, so long as it does the 
work well and is sound in the faith. A church should care 
for its own congregation and the waste places in its vicinity, 
but not rob other churches. 

1 Coleman's Prim. Christ. Exemplified, 118. « New Eng. Memorial, 433, 434. 



314 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 217. Yet no church can do all that is required of it 
without cooperation with others. Many things belong to the 
churches in common, in the doing of which they need to join 
hands. 

(1) The churches must see to it that the ministerial func- 
tion of the church-kingdom be properly trained. They must 
prepare men for the ministry. The chosen apostles while in 
training lived from a common treasury (John 12: 6; 13: 
29), which was replenished by the gifts of the pious (Luke 
8:3). It remains a duty to aid those called of God into 
the ministry of the Word. " What soldier ever serveth at 
his own charges?" (1 Cor. 9: 7), or trains for war at his 
own expense ? Whatever preparation be needed for the pas- 
torate and missionary work, the churches should provide in 
whole or in part, as necessity may require, for the candidates. 

(2) It is the duty of each and every church to aid in 
evangelizing the country in which it is planted. Home evan- 
gelization is laid upon them, until every city, town, and ham- 
let is brought under the benign influences of the gospel. 
Owing to the rapid settlement of our own country, this home 
labor becomes the paramount duty of our churches, enforced 
by patriotism as well as religion. 

(3) But the great commission is wider than any country. 
To make disciples of all the nations is included expressly in 
it. National and racial lines are not to stop the grace of 
God or the love of his people. The gospel is ecumenical, 
and the churches must preach it to every tribe, nation, and 
race. This is their business. 

To train the ministry, to evangelize the country, to preach 
the gospel to all the creation, are parts of one and the same 
work and duty of the churches. 

§ 218. This common work demands cooperation. Noth- 
ing would seem to be more self-evident. Both economy and 
efficiency, both harmony and permanency, demand unity of 
action in plan and execution. Their money, their agencies, 
their administration, must flow together, that there may be 



CHUBCH COOPEBATION. 315 

concentration, permanence, and no waste. What no one 
church can do alone many churches can do together, and do 
with ease and with the best results. And there must be 
some normal method for the cooperation of independent 
churches, since Christ ordained such and the apostles planted 
only such (§§ 98, 109). Their essential nature is for each 
to manage its own affairs ; and having been commanded to 
make disciples of all the nations, there is a normal way for 
them to cooperate in doing it. What is that way? 

(1) The primitive churches were not in circumstances^ 
while under persecution, to exhibit the law of cooperation in 
systematic, organic missionary work. Driven from Jerusa- 
lem, the disciples went about preaching the Word (Acts 8 : 
1, 4). Later the Holy Ghost, through the church at Antioch^ 
separated Barnabas and Saul expressly to preach the gospel 
to the Gentiles (Acts 13 : 2). While in this and subsequent 
missions Paul sometimes earned his support in whole or in 
part by his trade (Acts 20 ; 34), and sometimes received as- 
sistance from the churches he had planted (2 Cor. 11 : 8, 9 ; 
Phil. 4 : 15), there appears to have been no systematic and 
organized attempt made to sustain missionaries. The zeal 
of the churches was abundant, and the gospel was soon 
preached every-where (Col. 1 : 6, 23), but each church and 
missionary acted alone largely, and not with concerted action. 
Persecution constrained such a course. 

(2) In the systematic efforts put forth near the beginning 
of the present century, in this country, individual believers 
became associated in societies, as many or more than there 
were objects of endeavor. The foundation of such volun- 
tary societies is not the churches but individuals, who gener- 
ally purchased the membership of control in them by one 
small pecuniary contribution. These generally were union 
societies embracing members of different denominations. 
Some of our Congregational societies are of this sort, which, 
consequently, recognize the churches in no organic way ia 
their management. 



316 THE CHUBCH- KIXGDOM. 

(3) Another method of organized labor was in and 
through a permanent board, small, select, perpetuating 
itself, a close corporation. Most of our colleges and semi- 
naries, and one of our missionary societies, are of this kind. 
The close corporation manages the school or society in all 
respects by its own wisdom. The churches give the money 
and the board of trust expends it or holds it in trust as re- 
quired by the bequest. The churches have no control over 
either school or society, except that which comes from the 
cruel withdrawal of funds. If either should become en- 
dowed so that its income would sustain it, it could defy the 
churches that planted and fostered it, in doctrine, polity, and 
labor. While such a method may conduce to efficiency, it 
risks the loss of the college, seminary, or society to the faith 
and polity that planted and endowed it. Our churches have 
already more than once suffered this loss by defection, and 
are liable to the risk in every case ; for it lies in the method. 
Besides, the method puts a gulf between the school or soci- 
ety and the living heart of the churches. The management 
of the corporation is separated from the great working doc- 
trines of the churches, on which alone the gospel has ever 
obtained success. Alienation and loss are the fruits of this 
method, when matured. 

(4) There are mixed plans which also exist certainly in 
one society, and in some schools. In the schools it consists 
in allowing the alumni to nominate or elect a part of the 
board of trustees, or the school is connected with a clerical 
union or convention in some responsible relation. In the 
case of the society, the final power of control vests in life 
members, made such by a small gift of money, and in dele- 
gates from churches and general associations, annually chosen. 
This brings the society into closer relations to the churches 
than the preceding methods are able to do. But this plan, 
like that of individual membership, owing to the many thou- 
sands of voting members, must confine the management 
almost wholly to the officers. A change in the place of 



METHODS OF CHUBCH COOPEBATIOX. 317 

meeting renders the membership present at the annual gath- 
erings too unacquainted with the affairs of the society to be 
efficient ; while the permanency of that meeting in one place 
gathers about the officers their personal friends. Hence 
this method practically reduces the management to the 
officers and the smallest fraction of the voting membership.^ 

(5) Another method of cooperation is through the associa- 
tion of the churches, which becomes itself a board or society 
for educational, benevolent, and missionary operations. Some 
of our state associations and foreign unions thus cooperate, 
the churches doing their Master's work without any inter- 
mediary agency. 

We have among our churches all these methods, a delight- 
ful variety, if confusion can ever be delightful. There is 
management, firsts by association of individual believers ; 
second^ by close corporate boards ; thirds by mixture of 
life members and delegates from the churches ; and, fourth^ 
by association of churches. No wonder that there are symp- 
toms of unrest, under this confusion and the losses it has 
occasioned, lest even worse things come upon us. This un- 
rest has already modified charters and altered constitutions, 
and must find expression until some normal and safe way 
shall be reached by which independent churches can fulfill 
Christ's commission to make disciples of all the nations. 

§ 219. The normal method of conducting the common 
interests of independent churches needs both statement and 
adoption. The liberty of these churches can not be in- 
fringed upon. Each must choose its own channel of opera- 
tion, and freely give, as it has freely received, the gospel of 
eternal redemption. But several or many churches receiving 
a commission that renders cooperation not only desirable 
but necessary, would naturally do, as the church at Antioch 
did in a doctrinal controversy, choose messengers to meet 

3 The society may hold its annual meetings in rooms where not one in a hundred of 
its many thousand life and voting members can find admittance. The evil is but little 
removed if the society meet in the largest churches. 



318 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

together and to act for them in devising and executing plans 
for the accomplishment of the work. They would not com- 
mit their trust to boards or societies not accountable to 
themselves. If the assembly of delegates be too large to 
act most efficiently in any respect, it would do, as the so- 
called council at Jerusalem did, " choose men out of their 
company " (Acts 15 : 22), to do the work for the churches 
and in their name. This way would seem to be natural and 
normal as well as Scriptural. There is in it no surrender of 
the corner-stone of our polity, the independence under 
Christ of each church ; no separation between the churches 
and their commanded work ; no transference of responsibil- 
ity to a third party ; and therefore no feeling that the 
men doing the work are not the chosen representatives 
of the churches. This method brings the schools and 
the missions into direct contact with the life and work- 
ing doctrines of the churches. It does not establish and 
endow cloistered centers of independent life, sure to grow 
away from the churches, unless held by annual contributions, 
as are the majority of our societies and theological semina- 
ries. In this associational management of all common inter- 
ests, our churches only fulfill their divinely given trust, and 
that without damage to their Scriptural autonomy. They 
manage all their affairs. 

We are glad to find that this normal method of conducting 
the common affairs of independent churches is employed 
elsewhere. The affairs of " The Congregational Church- 
Aid and Home Missionary Society " of England are " man- 
aged by a Council," and this Council, numbering not more 
than two hundred members, is elected annually by " the sev- 
eral Confederated Associations." These Confederated Asso- 
ciations are " such County Unions as may agree to confeder- 
ate for the objects " specified in the constitution of the soci- 
ety, and " such other Associations of Churches as may from 
time to time be received by the Council." Thus the churches 
have exclusive control of the management of this Society 



OBSTACLES TO NOBMAL METHOD. 319 

througli their representatives chosen annually in their Con- 
federated Associations. The foreign missionary society of 
the English Congregationalists, called the London Missionary 
Society, formed in 1795 by long and repeated conferences of 
pastors and laymen of the churches, is " thoroughly demo- 
cratic." Its income is much larger than that of our foreign 
missionary society. The mission work of Victoria in Aus- 
tralia is managed by the Congregational Union or association 
of churches. Contributing churches have representation in 
the corporation of the Congregational College of British 
North America, and in the Canada Congregational Mission- 
ary Society. Voluntary societies appear to be peculiar to 
this country. Why should not our societies come into closer 
relations to our churches ? 

§ 220. There are certain obstacles to a return to this nor- 
mal method which must be regarded, if they can not be 
removed. These obstacles are : — 

(1) Reverence for the ways of our fathers, who organized 
our societies and schools on different principles. But they did 
so largely to make them union societies, in which individuals, 
not churches or denominations, naturally became the basis 
of organization. Other denominations have withdrawn and 
constituted their own boards or societies, leaving the old 
societies in our hands, and so the chief reason for the original 
method no longer exists. And reverence for the founders 
ought not, therefore, to prevent a return to the normal and 
true, so far as it can now be effected without legal risks. 

(2) Regard must be had for present charters and trust 
funds, so that no alterations may be made which shall annul 
or forfeit them. Yet alterations may be made bettering the 
methods of carrying out the ends of schools and societies. 
And charters may be amended for the greater efficiency of 
their working. Membership may be limited or changed in 
these ways. True, vested rights may not be taken away 
from members, but life members need no longer be made, 
and delegate membership may be secured, so that in a gen- 



320 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

eration or so there will be no voting members but the dele- 
gates of the churches. And even from the introduction of 
the change the control of the society or board would be in 
the hands, practically, of the churches. Then when once all- 
life members have ceased, the charter and constitution may 
be changed so that the churches shall have the sole right of 
control. 

(3) There is no unwarranted centralization in this normal 
method. The churches are controlling their own common, 
affairs, while each is free and equal and independent under 
Christ. There is always more danger from the introduction 
of a foreign element than from the right use of a normal 
power. Our societies and schools, with rare exceptions, are^ 
foreign to our polity, since our churches are deprived in 
them of managing their own affairs ; and there has been in-^ 
troduced by them a concentration of power that is dangerous.. 
This power is in the hands of a few men who may again, in 
the case of schools, as they have done in the past, pervert 
trust funds and institutions and paralyze the energies of the 
churches that fostered them. Men separated by natural taste 
and special training into a cloister, each desirous of making 
prominent his own specialty, need frequent contact with the 
vital energies of the churches to keep them from going off 
into profitless speculations. Cut off from this responsible 
connection, as in state establishments, it is no wonder that, 
their schools, planted in prayers and manifold self-denials, de- 
sert the faith and pull down what they were founded to 
build up. A wrong principle can not be worked long with 
good results. 

§ 221. These obstacles are not insuperable. They can be 
removed or remedied. We suggested, in 1882, a method of 
adjustment,* which we will re-produce. It preserves all vested 
rights, secures the perpetual legal continuity of the societies 
to which it applies, and brings the societies into close and 
responsible relations to the churches. (1) Let no more: 

4 The Advance, June 15, 1882; see also 44 Bib. Sacra, 417-420. 



ADVANTAGES OF THE NOBMAL METHOD. 321 

members be made on a pecuniary basis, as wrong in principle, 
and as giving temptation, in certain emergencies, to increase 
membership thereby for partisan ends, or the suspicion that 
majorities are sometimes so made. (2) Let members and 
officers, however they may have been made, remain undis- 
turbed until their terms shall expire by hmitation in time or 
by death. (3) Let the board of control, by whatever name 
called, be limited to a fixed convenient number, and divided 
into three or five classes ; the first class to serve one year, 
the second, two years, and so on, from the time of the first 
election, but each class thereafter to serve three or five years, 
according to the number of classes. (4) Let the members 
of this board of control be distributed among our several 
state associations proportionately, according to the number 
of churches; the said members to be nominated (in cases 
where their election would endanger trust funds) by their re- 
spective state associations to the board of control or society 
which shall elect them members, thus preserving the legal 
continuity of the corporation beyond a technical peradven- 
ture. (5) Let the said board constitute the legal society 
which shall elect the proper officers and transact the business 
of the body, electmg its own corporate members on nomina- 
tion as above. (6) Let no members or officers of auxiliaries 
have membership in the body. (7) Let honorary member- 
ship, if continued, be based on pecuniar;^ gifts. 

This plan is conservative, if revolutionary, preserving the 
charters and franchises and legal status of the societies, while 
bringing them into virtual control of the churches, to which 
appeals may legitimately be made for support, since the 
societies will then be theirs. 

§ 222. The advantages of this normal relation of the 
churches to their educational and missionary work may be 
stated. Any thing, even a good thing, out of its true rela- 
tions produces friction and strife. It is so with our societies 
and schools until they become the direct agencies of the 
churches. Then delegates will be responsible to the churches. 



:322 THE CHUB CH- KINGDOM. 

can be questioned as to their management, instructed, cen- 
sured, without violating the courtesy which should exist be- 
tween an officer of an independent institution speaking by 
grace, and churches having no voice in the management of 
said institution. Then, too, appeals for money or for stu- 
dents or missionaries could be made to the proper constitu- 
ents. If a school or society be wholly controlled by trustees, 
or by corporate or life members, it becomes the affair of those 
trustees or members, like a business firm ; and in pinching 
emergencies, as at all times, the proper appeal is not to the 
churches, but to its own managing constituency. If the 
school or society be the agent of the churches for doing a 
common work, why should not that fact appear in its manage- 
ment ? Is it the whole duty of the churches to give money 
and men and prayers? It becomes them as independent 
churches, able and required to manage their own affairs, to 
manage their common business as their individual affairs, and 
so to make the work wholly their own. 

§ 223. It may be objected that the giving is individual, 
and that, therefore, the educational, benevolent, and mission- 
ary institutions should rest on individual membership. But 
if this be true of one part of the Christian service, why does 
it not also cover all parts, as praying, singing, worship, and 
so abolish church organizations? Besides, if the duty and 
work be purely individual, why should churches and associa- 
tions be called upon to take action thereon ? Why are reso- 
lutions desired from such bodies ? The fact is that missions 
began in churches. The church in Jerusalem was scattered 
abroad that it might the better preach the Christ. When 
the Holy Spirit would send out Paul and Barnabas, he did 
not directly call them, but laid the duty upon the Antiochian 
church to separate them and ordain them for the missionary 
work. It was the church that " laid their hands on them " 
and with prayer and fasting " sent them away " (Acts 13 ; 
1-3). On their return Paul and Barnabas reported to the 
assembled church " all things that God had done with them " 



LEGAL BELATI0N8 OF GHUBGRE8. 323 

(Acts 14: 27). Missions then were sustained by churcli 
collections. "I robbed other churches, taking wages of 
them that I might minister unto you" (2 Cor. 11: 8). In 
matters, too, of benevolence "the churches of Macedonia" 
contributed liberally for the impoverished saints of Judsea 
(2 Cor. 8 : 1-4). The churches appointed an agent to aid 
Paul in administering their gifts (2 Cor. "8 : 19). The 
churches were active also in other benevolences (Acts 6 : 
1-6; 1 Tim. 5: 16). Churches worship, act, and labor only 
through individual members. Yet churches are ordained 
by Christ to carry on evangelization in all its departments 
as certainly as to conduct worship, administer sacraments, or 
do any thing else. 

Paul had this view of the matter when he wrote : " Now 
•concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to 
the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. Upon the first day 
of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he 
may prosper, that no collections be made when I come " 
(1 Cor. 16 : 1, 2). This was addressed to a church, as Paul 
had ordered the Galatian churches. The individual is to 
work in and through the church, as the local churches are 
the life centers and the organic integers of Christian labors 
and growth. Individualism is not the law of Christ, even in 
missions. Disintegration and death follow all attempts to 
reduce Christianity to individual endeavor and life. Chris- 
tianity is union, communion, fellowship, in labors as in creed 
and life. 



LEGAL RELATIONS OF CHURCHES. 

§ 224. It is manifest that churches, though independent, 
must hold some tangible relations to tlie civil power. They 
acquire and convey real estate, raise and disburse moneys, 
erect and own buildings, and must therefore appear in court 
as subject to the law in certain respects. Under the patri- 
archal dispensation the Church and State were combined in 



324 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the family, and there was no need of exact relations between 
them as respects property. Under the ceremonial dispensa- 
tion the civil and ecclesiastical codes mingled, and so the 
relation of the one to the other was most intimate and 
mixed. We have to do with the church-kingdom as mani- 
fested in local churches. As it is both spiritual and ecu- 
menical, it can not be divided up into national segments, nor 
can it have a civil and political rule among the nations it 
brings into discipleship. 

§ 225. The churches are independent of the State as to 
their spiritual function, but dependent upon the State as to 
their property matters. The Christ and his apostles and dis- 
ciples were rejected both by the ecclesiastical (Mark 14: 
61-64 ; John 9 : 22) and by the civil authority (Matt. 2T : 
1, 2, 26; Acts 4: 27). And the infant Church was con- 
fronted by both these powers (Acts 4 : 1 ; 12 : 1, 2) ; but in 
defiance of both, the apostles asserted the supreme right and 
duty of preaching the gospel, if need be, against the civil 
and ecclesiastical power (Acts 4: 19, 20 ; 5 : 29). Never- 
theless, they taught obedience to the civil powers as to an 
ordinance of God (Rom. 13: 1-7; Titus 3: 1; 1 Peter 2: 
13-17). The explanation is to be sought and found in 
Christ's own teaching : " Render unto Csesar the things that 
are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's " (Mark 
12: 17). Hence, while asserting their right and duty to 
preach the gospel in all its fullness, the apostles rendered 
unto Caesar the things that belonged to Caesar, though the 
Caesar was a Nero. Consequently they put forth no civil 
laws, as Moses did; and they never attempted to govern the 
churches planted by them in a civil or political way. They 
founded churches, in their functions independent of the State 
as they were independent one of another, but subject to the 
civil power as the ordinance of God in matters within its 
jurisdiction. " He that resisteth the power, withstandeth 
the ordinance of God" (Rom. 13: 2). And believers are 
"subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: 



LEGAL BELATIONS OF CHUBCHES. 325 

whether it be to the king, as supreme ; or unto governors, as 
sent by him," etc. (1 Peter 2: 13, 14). Thus the apostles 
separated between the ecclesiastical function and the civil 
function, regarding each as an ordinance of God, and forbid- 
ding each to trench on the province of the other. 

§ 226. The apostolic teachings controlled the churches 
down to the conversion of Constantine and the union of 
Church and State under this Caesar. This was a relapse into 
Mosaism. Constantine published an edict of toleration in 
A.D. 313. He also restored the property taken from Chris- 
tians in the persecutions. He interdicted heathen worship 
in private, but tolerated it in public. He forbade officers to 
sacrifice, and finally forbade the erection of images and the 
performance of religious sacrifices. He invested the church 
with the power to receive and hold landed property, which 
led to the slow but sure accumulation of wealth and power. 
He decreed, a.d. 321, the observance of Sunday. He en- 
forced uniformity in obeying the decrees of the Council of 
Nice, A.D. 325. He thus introduced the sword of the State 
to enforce the decrees of the Church. The change from ad- 
vice to authority in the decrees of synods, or conferences, 
came not from polity, but from State intervention.^ " What- 
ever weakness there was in the bond of a common faith was 
compensated for by the strength of civil coercion." ^ It pre- 
vented schism, and therefore reform. The Donatists arose, 
A.D. 318, and continued long after the death of Constantine. 
"Their soundness in the faith was unquestionable. They 
resolved to meet together as a separate confederation, the 
basis of which should be a greater purity of life ; and but for 
the interference of the State they might have lasted as a 
separate confederation to the present day." '' " ' Let all her- 
esies,' says a law of Gratian and Valentinian, ' forever hold 
their peace: if any one entertains an opinion which the 
Church has condemned, let him keep it to himself and not 
communicate it to another.' " ^ This was, a.d. 381. We see 

5 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 166, 168. e ibid. 177. ■• Ibid. 175. 8 ibid. 176. 



326 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

here the sad return to Mosaism which led to the Papal 
tyranny. That Church still holds as an infallible utterance^ 
that the Church ought not to be separated from the State^ 
and the State from the Church.^ 

§ 227. The Great Reformation was but a partial return 
to the primitive separation of Christian churches from the 
civil power. The reformers announced and defended the 
right of private judgment in religious matters, the corner- 
stone of Protestantism, but past habits of thought and of 
life, conjoined with the doleful excesses of rehgious fanatics^ 
prevented the full realization in practice of their fundamental 
principle. They could not adjust matters so as to " render 
unto Csesar the things that are Csesar's, and unto God the 
things that are God's." Probably an entire separation then 
between Church and State would have prevented the success. 
of the Reformation. It was better to gain a foothold for a 
complete return than to have attempted completeness at 
first and have failed. Yet Luther ^^ apprehended the true 
idea of the church-kingdom as separated from the State, as. 
did Zwingie^^ and other reformers ;^2 but neither he nor 
they could effect an entire separation.^^ Calvin used tha 
temporal power to suppress heresies.^* Had it not been for 
the aid which the State gave the reformers, the Reformation 
would probably have perished altogether under the terrible 
persecutions and wars which the Roman Church instituted 
and instigated, as it perished in Italy, Spain, France, and 
Bohemia. A foothold was gained for future conquests ; and. 
soon a nearer approach was made in the Puritan reformation^ 
in England and America. The Puritans included two wings^ 
the Presbyterian and the Congregational, or Independent.. 
The Presbyterians clung tenaciously to the union of Church, 
and State, uniting the two in Scotland, and attempting it iiL 

» Syllabus of Errors, No. 55. lo Fisher's Hist. Reformation, 488, 489. " Ujid. 495.. 
12 Augsburg Conf. art. xvi. " Palfrey's ffist. New Eng. ii, 71. 

" Fisher's ffist. Eef . 496, seq. ; D'Aubigne's Hist. Ref . of Calvin, iii, 197. 



SEPABATION OF CHUBCH AND STATE. 32T 

England.^^ Thej failed in England only through the more 
rapid growth of the Congregationalists under Cromwell, wha 
gave a larger liberty to that country. After the Restoration 
the persecutions confirmed them in their love of free churches 
separated from the State. From the first, both wings of the 
Puritans were persecuted, and one reason may be found in. 
the favorite expression of Queen Elizabeth, who, when she 
had any business to bring about among the people, used, as 
she said, " to tune the pulpits." ^^ For she found it harder 
to tune free pulpits than those of the Established Church,, 
which, like their organs, were easily tuned by one who held 
in her hands appointments, promotions, and salaries. Thus, 
dependent, ambitious prelates sung the tune ordered by 
ambitious politicians or by the crafty queen. 

§ 228. The return in America to the Scriptural relation, 
between the Church and the State requires notice. At first 
the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Colony attempted, 
a church-state, in which none but church members could, 
vote and hold ofiiae, the Church thus ruling the State. The 
same was true of the New Haven Colony. The Plymouth, 
and Connecticut Colonies were a little more liberal, though, 
there the suffrage was put under special limitations. The 
general courts were the annual assemblies of the churches 
in the respective colonies, enacting ecclesiastical and civil 
laws. The churches ruled through the civil power. " After- 
all that may be said," wrote Hutchinson, " of the constitu- 
tion [of the churches in Massachusetts], the strength of it 
lay in the union . . . with the civil authority. The usual 
way of deciding differences and controversies in churches, it 
is true, was by a council consisting of the elders and other 
messengers of neighboring churches; and where there was a, 
general agreement in such councils, the contending parties 
generally acquiesced; but if the council happened to differ 
in apprehensions among themselves, or if either of the con- 
tending parties were contumacious, it was a common thing 

15 Palfrey's Hist. New Eng. ii, 79, 101. le Hanbury's Memorials, i, 478.. 



328 THE CHUBCH' KINGDOM. 

for the civil magistrate to interpose and put an end to the 
dispute." 1^ The churches gave them their warrant to inter- 
pose ; ^^ and the frequency and nature of their interposition 
have been noted (§ 193 : 3, note).^^ 

But while " there was a real union between Church and 
State," there was " a radical difference in the form of the 
connection between the State and the churches here, and 
between the Church and State in the mother country. Here 
there were many churches, nearly independent of each other; 
there the Church was one body. Here the churches elected 
their own pastors ; there ministers were imposed by the civil 
government or by patrons. Here the civil government never 
assumed or exercised the power of deciding on matters of 
doctrine and discipline, but always called together represen- 
tatives of the churches freely chosen to determine such mat- 
ters ; there they were determined and established ultimately 
by the civil power. Here, if the proceedings of the magis- 
trates were supposed to bear hard on the liberties of the 
churches, they could be, and sometimes' were, displaced 
at the next annual election ; there, there was, in such cases, 
no redress." ^^ 

These elements of liberty finally worked a complete sepa- 
ration between Church and State in New England, as in the 
rest of the United States. But the union entailed upon the 
Congregational churches that established it evils from which 
they have not yet cleared themselves. The chief of these 
evils we must dwell upon. 

§ 229. The town church was changed into the parish sys- 
tem of church and society. A town meeting in any town in 
Massachusetts and New Haven was also at first a church 
meeting. In it the members of the church assembled -to 
transact both ecclesiastical and civil business, to build 
a meeting-house and to build a bridge, to elect a deacon and 
to choose a member of the General Court, to call a pastor 

" Hist. Mass. i, 383. is Camb. Plat. chap. xvii. ^^ New Englander, 1873, 468-473. 

2« Wisner's Hist. Old South Church, Boston, 2, 70. 



PABISH SYSTEM. 329 

and to tax the inhabitants. But under the liberty they had 
introduced, the few church members in a town found it diffi- 
cult to govern and tax for church purposes the many who 
were not members ; so in 1664 the law passed in 1631, lim- 
iting the suffrage to church members, was repealed. There- 
after persons who were Englishmen could become freemen 
by presenting a certificate from their minister that they 
were orthodox ; a certificate from the selectmen that they 
were freeholders, ratable " to the full value of ten shillings, 
or that they are in full communion with some church amongst 
us ; " by presenting " themselves and their desires " to the 
court for admittance to the freedom of the Commonwealth ; 
by being voted in by the General Court ; and by being 
twenty-four years old.^i 

It was then that the parish became wider than the church ; 
for it included all the voters in the town, whether church mem- 
bers or not. From 1631 to 1664 the church and the town in 
the Bay Colony were one in membership, though dual in 
function. After 1664 they were dual in form and function, 
though closely united. The church admitted its own mem- 
bers and elected its own deacons, but not its pastor, except 
in concurrent action with the town. For the town still 
claimed and exercised the same right it had before of calling 
a minister, since it taxed the whole township to pay him, as 
also to build and repair the meeting-house. There arose at 
once questions about the limitations of the church in choos- 
ing and ordaining its pastor, which the General Court, in 
1668, imperfectly answered ; ^ for from 1664 to the present 
time the relation of church and parish has caused untold 
trouble and loss.^ 

21 Col. Records, iv, part ii, 118. 

22 IMd. 396. 

23 The troubles referred to in § 193 : 3, and note 8, were partly of this nature. But 
more : " The committee of New Haven for settling the town of Wallingford, which 
was settled in 1669, for the safety of the church obliged the undertakers and all the 
successive planters to subscribe the following engagement, namely : • He or they shall 
not by any means disturb the church, when settled there, in their choice of minister or 
ministers or other church officers, or in any other church rights, liberties, or adminis- 
trations; nor shall withdraw due maintenance from such ministry.' This shows how 



330 THE CHUB CH- KINGD OM. 

The town parish gradually passed over into our present 
ecclesiastical society, owning all the church property and col- 
lecting and paying all moneys for church buildings, salary, 
and running expenses ; while the church admits, disciplines^ 
and dismisses members, fixes the order of services, adopts^ 
a creed, elects deacons, and has a concurrent vote — which, 
amounts only to a nomination — with the parish or society. 
The parish society controls the church edifice and holds the 
purse-strings. Thus the church-town became a dual system 
of church and society, as abnormal as the Siamese twins. 

In nearly every state in the Union the laws provide for the= 
incorporation of churches as such ^\ithout an ecclesiastical 
society. In a few states the qualifications of voters in reh- 
gious corporations are determined by statute laws ; but in the 
other states the religious corporations define their own voters 
in by-laws. In aU cases conditions are required for member- 

strongly the churches in this part of the colony were at that time opposed to town and 
parishes having any thing to do in the choice of a minister, or in any church affairs." — 
Felt's Eccl. EQst. New Eng. ii, 561. The same trouble arose in the Bay Colony. In 
1719 it was said : " Many people would not allow the church any privilege to go before 
them in the choice of a pastor. The clamor is : We must maintain him." The churches 
had then become so helpless in the hands of the parish, that it is said, " they do some- 
times, by their ro^e, make a nomination of three or four candidates; for every one of 
whom the majority of the brethren have so voted that whomsoever of these the choice 
falls upon, it may still be said : The church has chosen him. And then they bring this 
nomination unto the other inhabitants to join with them in a vote that shall determine 
which of them shall be the man."— Mather's Ratio Dis. art. ii, §§ 2, 3. 

The same abnormal condition of independent churches has been lately (1885) 
expressed in a compact between a church and its society, in these words : "In caUing^ 
a pastor, the society and church shall act as concurrent bodies, a majority of each 
being necessary to constitute a call; the vote of the chiu'ch shall be considered as a 
nomination which shall be confirmed or rejected by the vote of the society." 

But this bondage is not even the worst phase of the evil inherited from the union of 
Church and State. It is easy for a parish to exclude evangehcal preaching from the 
pulpit, and so bring iu heresy and apostasy. The parish system played a fatal part in 
the Unitarian defection in Massachusetts in the early part of the present century, by 
which " one hundred and twenty-six places of Avorship, with their appui'tenances of 
parish and church funds, were lost to the cause of evangelical religion and gained to 
its opposite." — Clark's Cong. Chhs. in Mass. 270. 

Our churches did not see the bearing of the law they passed enlarging the suffrage 
and so bringing in the parish system. The law reduced them from complete control in 
town and state to bondage to the town parish; and they did not take to their degi'ada- 
tiou kindly. For in 1097 " a letter of admonition was voted by the second church 
[Boston, Mass.] to the church in Charlestown, for betraying the liberties of the 
churches in their late putting into the hands of the whole inhabitants the choice of 
a minister." — Robbin's Hist. Second Church, 1852, 42. 



LEGAL EXISTENCE. 331 

ship, as, stated attendance on divine worship, regular contri- 
butions to the support of said worship, adult age, and enroll- 
ment. The conditions are other than church membership. 
This ecclesiastical society is the legal corporation, having 
officers, records, and meetings distinct from those of the 
church in connection with it (§ 138: 3). 

§ 230. The parish, or society, in Massachusetts contained 
the legal existence of the church in connection with it. 
This was not seen until the Unitarian defection brought the 
relation between the church and its parish into court, when, 
in the celebrated Dedham case,^ 1820, the court held that in 
Massachusetts a church could not exist without a parish. 
Their words were : " A church can not subsist without some 
religious community to which it is attached." " Churches 
can not exercise any control over property which they may 
have held in trust for the society with which they have been 
formerly connected." " As to all civil purposes, the secession 
of a whole church from a parish -would be an extinction of 
the church ; and it is competent to the members of the par- 
ish to institute a new church, or to engraft one upon the old 
stock if any of it should remain ; and this new church would 
succeed to all the rights of the old in relation to the parish." ^^ 
This decision was re-affirmed in 1830.^6 These decisions of 
the Supreme Court still stand as the proper interpretation of 
the relation of a church to its parish, as inherited from the 
original union of Church and State. The churches protested 
against the decision, but no rehef has come, unless through 
statutory laws. 

Whatever should be the decisions in other states, the fact 
would still remain that wherever this relic of the union of 
Church and State exists, the parish or society has power to 
dead-lock the church in the call of a pastor, and so to em- 
barrass the church, if not to turn it out of the church edi- 
fice. No other churches anywhere, under any polity, were 

2* Baker vs. Tales, 16 Mass. Repts. 488. 25 16 Mass. 503, seq. 

26 10 Pick. 171. 



332 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

ever more completely in subjection to a power largely outside 
and independent of themselves. The parish could legally bar 
the door of the pulpit against the pastor the church had 
chosen, and strip the church of every item of property, funds, 
communion service, and life itself, if it would not yield. 
The result of union with the State was that the Church was 
bereft of liberty and independent life. 

American Congregationalism has had an abnormal develop- 
ment : — (1) in the dual organization of church and society, 
and (2) in the voluntary societies for missionary labors. The 
first is the direct outgrowth of the union of Church and State, 
and the second is the indirect outgrowth of the same. Our 
fathers relied on the civil arm, then on the parish system, 
until they held the churches incompetent to transact their 
own affairs in evangelizing the world. Our English brethren 
were fortunately kept from all these aberrations. 

§ 231. It is time to return to the Christian relation of 
churches to the State. We have shown (§ 129) that the 
Church is an ordinance of God, and that the State (§ 225) 
is also an ordinance of God ; and each is to be kept to its 
proper function. The State may not say what the churches 
shall believe and preach, or when, or where, or how, or by 
whom ; only so that the creed and teachings be not immoral, 
like polygamy. And the churches may not say what the 
State shall do or not do, in constitutions, laws, policies, and 
courts ; only so that it do not trench on morality and church 
rights. Each ordinance must fulfill its function, judging of 
its own proper jurisdiction. Between the two realms there 
is a border-land of doubt which only experience can settle. 

The State is not irreligious, because its own sphere is not 
to preach the gospel ; and the Church is not lawless, because 
its own sphere is not to legislate and divide inheritances 
(Luke 12: 14). The State, as an ordinance of God, is bound 
to rule in righteousness and to foster religion ; and the Church 
is bound to obey the laws and to teach loyalty ; and both co- 
operate in securing the well-being of men in time and in 



BELATION OF CHUBCH AND STATE, 333 

eternity. To combine them into one, or to make either sub- 
ordinate to the other, works disaster, as fifteen and a half 
centuries prove. Yet these ordinances of God must touch 
each other in these several points : — 

(1) The State must regulate the holding of church prop- 
erty. Property falls within the legitimate function of the 
State to regulate and protect. Tiie churches must acquire, 
hold, and convey real and personal property so far as these 
things are necessary for its proper function. To carry on 
business or to accumulate vast wealth does not fall within 
the sphere of church life, and they are prejudicial to the 
public welfare ; and so the State may limit church activity 
and acquisition. Whatever property is needful for neces- 
sary uses the State may bring under its laws of acquisition, 
tenure, and transfer. 

(2) The State may regulate the taxation of church prop- 
erty. It may exempt it altogether from taxation, as has 
been the almost universal custom in Christian lands, because 
the Church serves the State in morals, good order, and pros- 
perity, and because the Church, like the State, is a divine 
ordinance ; or it may tax church property when it exceeds 
a certain amount, in order to prevent the massing of great 
wealth in churches ; or it may tax all church property the 
same as other property. Whatever exemption is allowed 
must be defended not on the ground of evangelization, nor 
on the ground that the property is taken from business chan- 
nels and devoted to moral and religious culture, but on the 
ground of public benefit, the churches being the best nurs- 
eries of morals, good order, loyalty, and peace. 

(3) The State may regulate the teaching of religion and 
morals in its schools. It does not fall within the sphere of 
state schools of any and all grades to teach religion or mor- 
als, for spiritual ends ; yet as morality, more than education, 
is essential to good citizenship, good order, and permanent 
prosperity, the State is more bound to teach it in its schools 
than to teach literature or science or even the common 



334 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

branches. But as morality, to be effective, must have the 
sanction of religion in its grand doctrines of God, sin, and 
retribution, the State is bound to teach this needed sanction. 
Hence the Bible, or selections from it, should be a text-book 
in every state school, as teaching the highest morals and 
giving the best sanction of morality. This is needed to keep 
our schools from godless secularity and refined corruption. 
Certainly, whatever moral and religious instruction is neces- 
sary to give purity and permanency to the State, the State 
has the divine right to teach, leaving to the churches the 
rest. 

(4) The State may regulate the worship of the churches 
in some respects. Hence church assemblies are protected by 
the State from disturbers, in some states the church officers 
being empowered to arrest at sight and deliver for trial those 
who disturb the worship. But, -on the other hand, the 
churches or religious assemblies must not themselves be- 
come disturbers of the peace in their doctrines, their wor- 
ship, their discipline, and their practices. The State protects 
the day of rest and of worship. The original Sabbath was 
a religious day solely (Gen. 2: 2, 3). The Mosaic Sabbath 
was both a religious day (Ex. 20 : 8-11 ; 31 : 13-17) and a 
civil institution (Ex. 16: 23-30; 35: 8). The Christian 
Sunday is a religious institution (Matt. 24 : 20 ; Acts 2 : 
1-4 ; Rev. 1 : 10) which the State might not regulate or 
interfere with but for the fact that a day of rest every week 
has also a physical and moral foundation. The cessation of 
labor on Sunday, or on some other week-day, is necessary to 
the welfare of a people, and hence the State may not only 
foster the religious observance of the day, but also enforce 
the cessation of labor upon it. 

(5) The State may regulate the discipline of the Church in 
some particulars. It may keep the discipline within ecclesi- 
astical limits, and prevent the infliction of fines, corporal 
punishment, imprisonment, and the like. It will protect 
parties acting in good faith within the proper limits of 



CHUBCH PBOPEBTY AXB THE STATE. 335 

church discipline (§ 179). Majorities may not violate 
"particular and general laws of the denomination to which 
they belong," nor transcend the scope of their jurisdiction.^^ 

(6) The State may regulate the alienation of church prop- 
erty. And here we will quote from the Hon. William Law- 
rence, of Ohio, who fortifies his statements by an abundance 
of legal authorities and references : — 

" The religious congregations which adopt the independent 
form of church gOA'ernment generally recognize some stand- 
ard of faith or creed, but not one which is unchangeable. 
Some congregations may be so constituted as to have defi- 
nite articles of religion, with property held for those who 
adhere to them, unchangeable entirely or in part by the 
action of any church authority. But generally property is 
held by or for each congregation, subject to its right to 
control it and change the doctrines for the propagation of 
"which it is designed to be used according to its policy and 
usage." ^ 

" In independent congregations generally, a majority con- 
trol the use of property, and a change of religious tenets 
does not affect the right of the majority unless otherwise 
clearly provided by special trust." " *■ Courts will interpose 
to prevent the diversion of funds appropriated to promote 
the teaching of particular rehgious doctrines,' even if sanc- 
tioned by a majority of a church." "An independent society 
may have property devoted for specified doctrines, which a 
majority can not pervert." " The Legislature and the courts 
have in some instances gone far in sanctioning a change or 
perversion of trusts." ^ 

A change in the creed of a church does not vacate title to 
property where the title vests in the said church by purchase 
in fee simple ; nor does change in ecclesiastical connection ; 
but if the title vests in the church as holding a particular 
faith or polity, the majority can not change the faith or polity 

2" See cases 12 Am. Law. Reg. N. S. 344, 345. 28 Ibid. 33ii-335. 

29 Ibid. 356, seq., notes 53, 54. 



336 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

and hold the property.^ A denominational name, with con- 
temporaneous acts, may define the trust in respect to doc- 
trines deemed fundamentah^i The church may before change 
and division agree upon an equitable partition of property, 
but not for private purposes.^ 

The law protects a church from seceders, as seceders for- 
feit all rights in property by withdrawal, and that, too, 
whether they are a minority or a majority of the body.^^ 
The title to the church property of a divided church is in 
that part, though a minority, which adheres to the ecclesias- 
tical laws, usages, and principles of the denomination under 
which the church was constituted.^ 

The same principles apply, we may suppose, to union vol- 
untary societies (§ 218 : 2) and their funds. The with- 
drawal of any denomination from such societies cancels all 
the rights legal and moral of that denomination in the prop- 
erty and funds of said societies, and leaves the denomination 
that remains in these societies the sole and complete owner 
of all the property, with the full right to use all trust funds 
as it may deem wise, subject only to special conditions im- 
posed in the bequests conveying the trust funds. 

If a church unite with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
for example, the act of uniting places both the property of 
the said church under the control of the Methodist Confer- 
ence, and also its pulpit. Its building and land " no longer 
remain under the direction and control of the members of 
said church, but under the direction and control of the 
Methodist Episcopal Conference." The refusal of the trus- 
tees of a Methodist Episcopal Church to receive a preacher- 
appointed by the bishop is an act of insubordination to the 
ecclesiastical tribunals of that Church, and the violation 
of one of the injunctions of its discipline ; and so the 

30 6 Ohio, 363; 16 Ohio, 583 ; Hale vs. Everett, 53 N. H, 9. 

31 53 N. H. 9; 16 Am. Repts. 124, 125. 32 14 qMo, 44. 
33 14 Ohio S. 31, 44 ; 5 Ohio. 289. 

3* 67 Penn. St. 138; 5 Am. Repts. 415; 69 Penn. St. 462; 13 Am. Repts. 275, 283; 12 Am^ 
Law Reg. N. S. 359, note 55, where many cases are cited. 



CHUBCH COMITY. 337 

courts will issue a peremptory mandamus^ commanding them 
to admit the preacher thus appointed as pastor of the 
church.^ 

COMITY AMONG CHURCHES. 

§ 232. Since the different theories of the church-kingdom 
develop inevitably into separate communions or denomina- 
tions, and since, through the imperfection of the saints, de- 
nominations are formed on other issues, the local churches 
of any one communion, as well as the associations of those 
churches, must come into some sort of relation with churches 
of other communions and with their ecclesiastical assemblies. 
Hence we can not complete our view without considering the 
relations of comity. 

(1) Comity assumes the right of private judgment as 
the foundation of disagreements among churches, and the 
unity of the church-kingdom and its manifestation as the 
basis of fraternal relations. All believers hi Christ are " a 
royal " and " holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ " (1 Peter 2 : 5, 9), 
and they must judge what sacrifices are thus acceptable; 
and being assured in their own minds (Rom. 14 : 5), others 
can not interfere with their beliefs and cultus, since they 
stand or fall to their own Lord (Rom. 14: 4). Yet this 
Christian principle has had a hard and long combat to regain 
its divinely appointed place. The primitive churches en- 
joyed this right of private judgment, but when the Church 
and State were united under Constantine, uniformity began 
to be enforced. From the fourth to the nineteenth century 
this inalienable right has been denied, as it is now expressly 
denied, by the Roman Catholic Church, which calls it " the 
insanity." ^ As an instance of its denial by Congregational- 
ists in this country, take the law passed in 1742 in Connecti- 
cut, forbidding a man either to preach or to exhort within 

35 Guild vs. Richards, 16 Mass. Gray, 309; People vs. State, 2 Barbour, N. Y. 397. 

36 Ency. Letter, Pius IV, Dec. 8, 1864; Syllabus of Errors, No. 15. 



338 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

the bounds of a parish, unless the consent of the minister of 
the same and a majority of the parish was first obtained.^'' 
Under this law "eminent and excellent men, like Rev. 
Dr. Finley, afterwards president of Princeton College, were 
arrested and punished." ^ When liberty was finally secured 
in this country, as it has been, the pent-up isms multiplied 
denominations into wasteful divisions with slight and non- 
essential differences. A wholesome reaction towards union 
has already begun, and will go on until the unity of the 
church-kingdom will be organically manifested. 

(2) Comity must divide communions according to their 
essential beliefs. It must place on one side all that hold the 
essential doctrines of Christianity, and put on the other side 
all that deny those doctrines. The line of separation is 
a creed, and those on the one side are called evangelical, 
while those on the other side are called unevangelical, de- 
nominations. The criterion by which doctrines and prac- 
tices are to be determined as fundamental or not may be 
found in Acts 11 : 17 ; 15 : 8-10. It is, in brief, God's rec- 
ognition of churches by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Those 
which God so recognizes, his churches must also recognize ; 
and those that God does not so recognize as his churches, 
his churches must not recognize in their fellowship. This is 
the criterion given ; its application depends upon the written 
Word and experience. The evangelical doctrines are held by 
the Orthodox Greek Church, the Roman Catholic Church, 
and the Armenian Church, though overlaid by many pervert- 
ing doctrines and practices, and by almost all the Protestant 
churches. The unevangelical doctrines are held by Unitari- 
ans and Universalists, and such like communities. 

(3) Comity requires the limited fellowship of the evangel- 
ical denominations. Differing only in matters which are not 
essential, these churches may exchange members, ministers, 
and pulpits ; may unite in communion services ; may invite 
the communicants of one another to the Lord's table ; may 

37 Contrib. Eccl. Hist, of Conn. 119. 38 Ibid. 438. 



GHUBGH COMITY. 339 

and should respect one another's ordinations, parishes, peo- 
ple, and mission fields ; may form evangelical alliances ; and 
may join in meetings and labors. In union meetings and 
labors, however, it should be remembered : — 

(a) That the Lord established local churches as the cen- 
ters of life and nurture and the organic factors in evangelis- 
tic labors. Union meetings generally run across this line of 
labor and violate the plan of the Master. Great union taber- 
nacle services leave the converts without any particular 
church home, and surround them for a brief period with 
a spectacular environment which can not be repeated in any 
church ; and hence their results are disappointing. No one 
can hope to improve upon Christ's plan of worship and 
labor, namely : to work and worship in local church homes, 
where converts can be known and cared for ; and to go out 
from these spiritual households in labors of evangelization. 

(5) It must be remembered also that all union efforts end 
in denomination results, so far as they are successful. It is 
so logically ; it has been so historically ; it can be otherwise 
only sentimentally. For every believer that joins a church 
must join some church that has a particular creed and polity, 
a denominational church. Every dollar given for union pur- 
poses turns up at last with a denominational stamp, within 
denominational folds. It can not be otherwise ; for every 
church that is formed must organize into itself some theory 
of the church-kingdom (§§ 44, 45), which theory gives it at 
once a denominational trend, though called a union church, 
or simply a church of Christ, and which in time brings it 
into denominational connection. If mission churches in 
Japan or elsewhere vote to discard denominations and plant 
only churches of Christ, this law will hold them like gravita- 
tion, and have its way, until those churches are carried to 
Rome, or to Episcopacy, or to Presbyterianism, or to Congre- 
gationalism. And the constitutive principle (§ 48) most 
dominant in their organization and their environment will 
determine which road they shall take. I^ no device can it 



340 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

be otlierwise, for a principle of polity is stronger than love. 
It has destroyed nearly all distinctive union societies that 
have been established. 

((?) We should remember also that independent churches 
under Christ are what Christ planted and what all other pol- 
ities seek to destroy. Such churches are the germs of ci^dl 
democracies. It was " the plan of the apostles " to plant 
them, to leaven the world. Comity does not require a true 
polity to aid and abet the theories that seek to destroy it. 
Through mistakes here, thousands of churches, in their ori- 
gin and principles free, have been carried over into a central- 
ized polity. Charity does not require that churches should 
thus commit suicide to please polities that subvert the con- 
ceded independence of the primitive churches. "We should 
care for the form of polity that Christ chose, which is giving 
liberty to the world. 

Remembering these things our churches should exhibit in 
love the comity that should ever exist between churches of 
Christ which can not yet walk together because they are not 
agreed. 

(4) Comity can not go into fellowship with unevangelical 
denominations. Over the line of separation there can be no 
exchange of members, of ministers, or of pulpits, and no in- 
vitation to the eucharist or exchange of fraternal greetings. 
Loyalty to Christ demands this. He said : " He that is not 
with me is against me" (Matt. 12: 30). The "destructive 
heresies," "denying even the Master that bought them," 
bring " swift destruction " (2 Peter 2 : 1), and can not be rec- 
ognized in fellowship. " Whosoever goeth onward and abid- 
eth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God," and must 
not receive even the " greeting " of Christ's followers (2 
John 9, 10). The word of Christ thus limits recognition. 
Reason puts the same limitation upon fellowship. There 
can be no true fellowship where there is no community of 
belief, life, and sympathy. Two can not walk together in 
fellowship except^ they be agreed. When a minister had 



THE CHUBCH AND THE WORLD. 341 

renounced even the name Christian, another minister of the 
denomination left was reported to have written and published 
these words : " I had rather go to hell with Emerson and 
Abbot than to heaven with any who would shut them out ; 
because theirs is the better spirit^ Yet the Christ whom 
Abbot denied said : " No one cometh unto the Father, but 
by me" (John 14: 6). What fellowship is possible between 
those who worship Christ and those who refuse his name ? 
or the denomination that tolerates such utterances ? None 
is possible j and, if any were possible, loyalty would forbid it. 
Yet love, not coercion, must be shown them. The " swift 
destruction " to come upon them must not be inflicted by 
the churches or by the State. They have the right of private 
judgment as well as others. The Master cares for his own. 
And the " all things " that work for the good of his own 
(Rom. 8 : 28) work also for the overthrow of his enemies 
(1 Cor. 15; 25). Our attitude must be loyal but Christian. 
Love, Christian love, that admits the right of all men to 
form their own opinions under their personal accountability 
to God ; that seeks to give them truth for error, Christ for 
self ; that labors to win them unto the Saviour of the world, 
— this love that wins while it disf ellowships, — is the privi- 
lege and duty of all the churches of Christ. That love, to be 
loyal, must disfellowship all who deny the Lord Jesus. 

THE RELATION OF CHUECHES TO THE WORLD. 

§ 233. The church-kingdom has been set up in the world, 
which fact brings its churches into relations with the world. 
And we mean by "the world" unrenewed humanity, the 
world that lies in wickedness, or " the evil one " (1 John 5 : 
19), for whose redemption God sent his only Son (John 3 : 
16). The churches of Christ touch this world. They stand 
in relation to it as a divine institution established for the 
very purpose of converting it, of turning it unto God, of 
lifting it out of sin and misery into holiness and joy. For 



342 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

this end the Church has been endued with the gift of the> 
Holy Ghost, with a ministerial function, and then com- 
manded to make disciples of all the nations. It is likened 
to leaven, the mustard seed, and is called the salt of the 
earth, the light of the world. The churches are to do mor& 
than teach the world of God and Christ and salvation — 
a creed; they are to bring into the world righteousness, 
purity, brotherly love — a life, begotten of God, which shall 
remove sin and misery. They are commissioned with a new 
religion, revealed from God, which they are to live and pro- 
claim. " Religion, in the eye of a Pagan," said De Quincy, 
" had no more relation to morals than it had to shipbuilding 
and trigonometry." 3^ It is the sublime mission of the 
churches to unite religion and moralit}^ in a reign of '' right- 
eousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14: 
17). To do this they must condemn whatever is sinful in 
itself and in its tendencies, and put it away. They must go 
before all others in good deeds. They must not conform to 
any evil customs. They must proclaim the truth in love,, 
and preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

The churches must keep clear of all alliances with the 
world. They must not take the world into membership, nor 
into partnership. They must keep themselves pure, whose 
members m.ust be saints by regeneration, not merely by bap- 
tism ; and they must carry their holy standard into all busi- 
ness, socials, fairs, pleasures, amusements, and recreations. 
They must not present to the world a commercial aspect,*^ 
but the aspect and acts of the Good Samaritan and of am- 
bassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. No monkish garb should, 
be theirs, but modest apparel with pure hearts and loving- 

30 Theol. Works, i, 8. 

40 We mean by the commercial aspect of the churches the various methods of indi- 
rection or devices for raising money — fairs, socials, singing, and preaching, whatever 
presents the churches as money-getting instead of soul-saving institutions. This atti- 
tude has called out the remark: •' The church cares more for getting my money than 
for saving my soul." The power of any church is crippled to the degree in which this., 
maybe truly said of it. Its mission is salvation, a free gospel to all men; audit, 
should appeal directly to men to support it in this divine work. 



THE CHUBCH AND THE WORLD. 34S 

deeds. The churches must not in any way be in alliance 
with the world ; but they must refine and purify whatever 
can be made fit for the Master's service, and destroy the 
rest. The leaven must leaven the lump. 

We have now compassed all the relations save one whick 
the churches sustain to the kingdom out of which they 
spring; to one another, and each to the whole; to their 
officers and the ministry of the Word ; to their members ; to 
fellowship with those in connection ; to those of other faiths- 
and polities; and to the world. Thus through the Church 
the manifold wisdom of God is made known to a world lying 
in the evil one. We have not considered yet the relation of 
churches to doctrinal standards, except in the matter of 
comity (§232: 2). We reserve this relation and certain 
objections to our final Lecture. 



LECTURE TWELFTH. 

THE DOCTEINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH. — CEEED. — 
OBJECTIONS. 

"Hold the pattern of sound vjords which thou hast heard from me, in faith 
and love which is in Christ Jesus." — Saint Paul. 

" Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not 
prevail against it." — Jesus Christ. 

§ 234. The matter of church creeds is of the utmost 
importance, and has indirect relation to polity. Lideed, it 
has been afQrmed that the pohty we have presented tends to 
unsoundness in the faith. If this charge be true, it is a 
strong, if not insuperable, objection to Congregationalism, 
either in its principles or in its workings. For no organiza- 
tion has ever done, or can ever do, much good either for 
itself or for the world without a creed of principles. It was 
said of the Liberal Republicans, in 1872 : " Harmony is a 
very good thing, as far as it goes, but it is by no means the 
principal thing ; indeed, it is only a means to an end. The 
first thing for a new party or a reform party to provide itself 
with is a hody of doctrines ; a party without this is a simple 
absurdity.'" ^ Parties in their state and national conventions 
issue platforms as their creed ; and this they do repeatedly. 
And if a party must have " a body of doctrines " in order to 
escape an ''absurdity," how much more a communion of 
churches, and even a single congregation of believers. " A 
system of rehgion, to be worthy of a sane man's faith, must 
. . . 5e a system. It must have concinnity. It must have a 
beginning and a middle and an end. A jumble of incohe- 
rences commands as little honor from faith as from reason." ^ 
If any polity tends to ignore or reject creeds, or substitutes 

1 New York Nation, No. 356, 

2 Prof. Austin Phelps, d.d., Am. Home Missionary, xlv, 3. 



CHUBCH CBEEDS. 345 

for doctrinal formularies a jumble of any sort, or carries the 
churches away from the faith once for all delivered to them, 
that polity stamps itself as inadequate for the evangelization 
of the world. Its career must be short. 

§ 235. The general confessions of the Congregational 
churches set forth sound doctrine. This will appear from a 
reference to them. Some of the leading men in the West- 
minster Assembly (1643-1649), which issued that master- 
piece of doctrinal statement, the Westminster Confession of 
Faith, were Congregationalists. They did their full share 
in framing this confession, and they heartily assented to all 
its doctrinal teachings. So the Cambridge Synod that 
framed and issued the Cambridge Platform, in 1648, gave 
the Westminster Confession its " professed and hearty assent 
and attestation to the whole confession of faith (for sub- 
stance of doctrine)."^ The English Congregationalists, in 
1658, met in synod and issued the Savoy Declaration, as it 
is called, the doctrinal part of which is identical in sub- 
stance and almost in word with the Westminster Confession. 

3 There were at that time fifty -one Congregational churclies in America, distributed, 
as follows: two in New Hampshire; nine in Plymouth Colony; thirty in Massachu- 
setts Colony; five in Connecticut Colony; and five in New Haven Colony. The term, 
" for substance of doctrine," whose meaning has sometimes been disputed, was very 
restricted at that time. The Synod excepted polity, of course, in their endorsement, 
and then added: "We may not conceal that the doctrine of vocation, expressed in . 
chap. 10, § 1, passed not without some debate. Yet considering that the term voca- 
tion and others by which it is described are capable of a large and more strict sense 
and use, and that it is not intended to bind apprehensions precisely in point of order 
or method, there hath been a general condescendency thereto " (Felt's Eccl. Hist, ii, 
5). The subsequent action shows that no essential doctrine was then in dispute. 
After the said approval, in 1648, the General Court of the Massachusetts Colony, in 
1649, commended the Cambridge Platform to the several churches for " their judicious 
and pious consideration," desiring the churches to return the Court answers " how far 
it is suitable to their judgments and approbation " (Records iii, 177, 178). Objections 
being returned to the Court, they were referred to Rev. John Cotton to answer (Ibid. 
235, 236). Then in October, 1651, the General Court, composed wholly of lay church 
members, and elected only by church members, "gave their testimony to the said 
Book of Discipline, that for the substance thereof it is that we have practised and do 
believe" (Ibid. 240). Increase Mather, in his preface to his son's Ratio DisciplinjE, 
published in 1726, says : " It is true that for cex-taiu modalities there has been a variety 
of practice in these churches: as there was in the primitive; but in essentials, both 
of doctrine and of discipline, they agree " (iii). 

By no stretch of the term can " substance of doctrine " be made to cover any doc- 
trinal unsoundness. It excepted only matters of minor importance. 



346 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

This Savoy Declaration was in 1680 approved by a synod 
at Cambridge, Mass. Thus our churches in England and 
America endorsed as their belief a confession whose doc- 
trinal statements are given in thirty-four chapters, each 
chapter containing from one to ten articles. There are in it 
one hundred and sixty-one sections. 

But in 1691 the Congregational and Presbyterian 
churches of England formed a basis of agreement, which 
was that " the Articles of the Church of England, or the 
Confession or Catechisms, shorter or longer, compiled by the 
Assembly at Westminster, or the Confession agreed on at 
the Savoy," * should be tests of fellowship. The Congrega- 
tional Union of England and Wales adopted in 1833 a 
doctrinal basis covering the fundamental doctrines.^ 

The American Congregational churches, in 1865, in council 
adopted the Burial Hill Declaration, after re-affirming their 
"adhesion to the faith," "substantially embodied in the Con- 
fessions " of 1648 and 1680. In this declaration our churches 
present "the great fundamental truths in which all Chris- 
tians should agree " as the basis " of Christian fellowship." 
And when the National Council was organized at Oberlin, 
in 1871, it, by constitutional provision, rested the doctrinal 
basis of fellowship on the Scriptures as interpreted by the 
evangelical faith and set forth by former General Councils. 
In 1880 the National Council appointed a large commission 
to form a creed or catechism, or both, and to report the same 
to the churches. This commission reported in 1883 a state- 
ment of doctrine and a confession of faith. 

These confessions and declarations, and heads of agree- 
ment, and statements of doctrine and creeds, give no uncer- 
tain sound. Some are elaborate ; some are brief ; all are 
thoroughly evangelical (§ 232 : 2). 

§ 236. The doctrinal bases of our state associations are 
also evangelical. They range from the word " evangelical " 
up to the Burial Hill Declaration of 1865, and even to the 

* Heads of Agreement, ai-t. viii. ^ xew Eng, Memorial, 452. 



CHUBCH CBEED8. 347 

Shorter Catechism. Nearly all have a creed as the basis of 
membership in them. Not one repudiates the consensus of 
Christian doctrines held by Christendom. Instead, they are 
all associated in the National Council, whose doctrinal basis is 
" belief that the holy Scriptures are the sufficient and only 
infallible rule of religious faith and practice," our interpre- 
tation of which "being in substantial accordance with the 
great doctrines of the Christian faith, commonly called 
evangelical." 

§ 237. If we turn to church creeds we find a great 
variety; for each church chooses or frames and adopts its 
own. It has authority to do so as independent under Christ. 
Of the thousands thus adopted, none in connection is hereti- 
cal. When a church joins a conference or association, its 
creed is a matter of inquiry before admission. Its doctrinal 
soundness is therefore a test of admission, as well as the doc- 
trinal basis of the conference or association to which it gives 
its assent. 

§ 238. Every member on joining the church publicly 
assents to a creed; and every pastor in accepting the call 
to any church makes its creed a part of his covenant and 
contract with the said church, which he can not honorabljr 
break by preaching another doctrine. Every church and 
minister on joining an association either expressly or im- 
pliedly assents to a creed and covenant, both of the district 
body and of the state and national bodies. In this way any 
doctrinal unsoundness in church or minister is likely to be 
detected. There is no slighting of creeds. Our general 
confessions, it is true, are mere declarations, to which no 
formal assent is required ; for assent to church creeds, asso- 
ciational bases, and inquiry by committee or council are 
sufiicient to secure soundness in the faith. The Congrega- 
tional churches of England are less rigid than those in 
America in this regard of doctrinal tests. 

The credal tests of admission to church membership should 
not, however, go beyond the Scriptural requirement of 



348 THE CHUECH- KINGDOM. 

"repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Chiist" (Acts 20: 21). Whom the Lord receives in regen- 
eration his churches are to receive (Rom. 14: 1-5). The 
creed and covenant for admission should be constructed on 
this principle; and hence no elaborate articles of faith or 
rigid examination should stand as tests of admission. There 
should be, therefore, a form of admission to membership 
separate from the creed of the church, and much more sim- 
ple, that children and the weakest believer may enter the 
nurturing home of the saints and be trained in the church 
up to the doctrinal perfection of its creed. The church 
creed should be read at communion seasons, but members 
should be admitted on their assent to a simpler form. This 
position was taken in the Ohio Manual in 1874, and in the 
creed and confession of faith prepared by the commission 
of the National Council, and issued in 1883. Our churches, 
in placing an elaborate creed as the condition of church mem- 
bership, depart from their principles and early practice. 

§ 239. Our system of church councils has been a safe- 
guard to purity, and is yet to some extent, though the 
stated meeting of the churches in associations renders coun- 
cils of less vital importance. Councils have been called to 
recognize a church, to ordain, install, and dismiss ministers, 
etc. (§ 194: 7), which -inquired into the faith of both 
churches and ministers. They may be called also to disci- 
pline both churches and ministers in case of heresy or im- 
morality (§ 200).^ Councils do these things now wherever 
called, and so form an additional security to those above 
given. 

§ 240. The history of our churches shows that they have 
kept the faith with unusual firmness. Time tests all things, 
and history is but the record of its testings. Polities do 
not escajje. How do they stand the ordeal ? Towards the 
close of the eighteenth century a wave from that deluge of 
infidelity which had submerged Europe broke upon the 

6 Minutes National Council, 1880, 17. 



CONGBEGATIONAL OBTHODOXY. 349 

shores of New England, unmooring many churches, which 
during the first quarter of the present century drifted upon 
the bleak shores of heresy. The wave came from Europe ; 
its damage was chiefly done in Europe, — in the comparison 
the defection in New England was slight, — and yet the 
country and polity that suffered least from it have been 
charged with its origin. Nothing could be farther from the 
fact. " No great heresy was ever generated by our polity." 
Let us examine the facts more closely, a thing we would not 
do but for the charge so persistently made against Congrega- 
tionalism. In the Revolution a French army came over to 
assist us, which brought with it the infidelity of Voltaire. 
In consequence of its influence, of the influence of the Half- 
way Covenant, and of the parish system, inherited from the 
union of Church and State, ninety-six churches in Massachu- 
setts out of three hundred and sixty-one became Unitarian. 
Only twenty-six per cent, of them apostatized.' But in 
England, out of two hundred and fifty-eight Presbyterian 
churches, all but twenty-three lapsed into Unitarianism ; 
which was ninety-one per cent, of the whole.^ In Connecti- 
cut no Congregational church was lost to the faith ; ^ but in 
Ireland two Presbyterian synods became Unitarian.^^ In 
England, only six, or at most ten, churches of our order 
became unsound in the faith ; ^^ while in Scotland the whole 
body of Presbyterian churches fell away into Moderatism, a 
term which included all shades of unbelief from bald deism 
up to the evangelical faith.^ There were not many Congre- 
gational churches in Ireland, but no one of these aposta- 
tized ;i3 while the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of 
Switzerland, Holland, and Germany lapsed almost wholly 
into rationalism and heresy, leaving even the cradle of 

7 Clark's Cong. Chhs. in Mass. 270. 

8 Tracts for the Times, i, 403, quoted from A Churchman's Reasons, 181, 182. 

9 Bacon's Hist. Address, in Contrib. to Eccl. Hist. Ct. 70. 

10 HalPs Hist. Presby. Ch. iii, 454, 472. 
" Spirit of the Pilgrims, iii, 537; iv, 46. 

12 Hetherington's Hist. Ch. of Scotland, ii, 362, 363; chap, x, 367, 377. 

13 Spirit of the Pilgrims, iv, 97. 



350 THE CR UB CLI - KINGD 031. 

Presbyterianism without a cliurcli in the faith of John 
Calvin.i* The Lutherans,^^ the Episcopalians, and the 
Roman Catholics suffered equally or even worse from this 
deluge of unbelief. About two hundred and fifty clergy- 
men of the Anglican Church, including a bishop and an 
archdeacon, petitioned Parliament to be released from sub- 
scribing to the Thirty-Nine Articles, because they had become 
Unitarian.!^ The Roman Catholic churches in France and 
Italy were even less sound in the faith. 

We believe that impartial history will show more heresy 
under centralized forms of church government than under 
the liberty of independent churches. We beUeve it to be 
true and proved by history, that ecclesiastical courts rising 
in appellate jurisdiction have not proved to be the best 
guards of purity in faith. Liberty and sound orthodoxy go 
naturally together. 

§ 241. For the people are the best custodians of the faith 
as of liberty. The oracles of God were committed unto his 
people. The gospel was entrusted to free, independent 
churches, governed by the popular vote of their members, 
with the command to evangelize all nations. It is a con- 
ceded fact that the membership of the primitive churches 
resisted, and sometimes by riots, the encroachments upon 
their liberties that ended in the Papacy. Those churches 
were robbed of their rights against their will by the clergy 
fortified by the civil power. So bitter was the contest for 
their liberties, that a semblance of their inalienable rights 
was left the people for centuries after the substance had 
been insidiously taken away from them. 

We have said that in Ireland two synods of Presbyterians 
lapsed into Unitarianism ; but the rest were preserved by 
the people in this way as told by their Presbyterian histo- 
rian : " For a quarter of a century before the commence- 

"Dorner's Hist. Prot. Theol. ii, 475; Pond's Church of God, 1040; Spirit of the 
Pilgrims, v, 532, seq. 
15 Pond's dhurch of God, 1037. 
10 Spirit of the Pilgrims, iv, 44. 



THE BEST CUSTODIANS OF OBTHODOXY. 351 

ment of the Arian controversy, congregations had been 
scannmg with increased vigilance the doctrines propounded 
from the pulpit ; and on the occurrence of a vacancy the 
very suspicion of ' New Light ' was almost sure to destroy 
the prospects of the candidate. In 1827, when the synod 
began fairly to grapple with the question, the people them- 
selves had already performed so effectually the process of 
purgation, that only a comparatively small fraction of the 
body was tainted with Unitarianism." " The synod always 
recognized the right of the people to elect their minister, 
and the enlightened exercise of this privilege tended greatly 
to impede the progress of anti-evangelical principles." ^'' The 
Moderatism of Scotland, which carried all the Presbyterian 
churches away for a long period, had its origin partly in the 
union of Church and State. " Early in its progress it showed 
itself favorable to soundness of doctrine and laxity of disci- 
pline, and strongly opposed to the rights and privileges of 
the Christian people." ^^ In Germany there is a union of 
Chu.rch and State. Hence it is said that "the great Coryphsei 
of rationalism have sprung from the very bosom of the 
Church . . . and, at the same time that they were endeavor- 
ing to demolish the superstructure of divine interpretation, 
they were in the eyes of the people, its strongest pillars, the 
accredited spiritual guides of the land, teaching in the most 
famous universities of the continent, and preacliing in 
churches which had been hallowed by the struggles and 
triumphs of the Reformation." ^^ The pious members of all 
churches, whatever their polity, care little for doctrinal 
speculations, but they do care for the grand doctrines of the 
gospel by which men are brought to Christ and saved. 
These great working doctrines, which have carried the 
churches through persecutions and controversies, the storms 
of the centuries ; Avhich have brought in reformations and 

" Hall's mst. Presby. Ch. of Ireland, iii, 487. 

18 Hetherington's Hist. Ch. Scotland (7th ed.), ii, 362. 

19 Hurst's Hist. Rationalism (6th ed.) ,27. 



352 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

revivals ; whicli have given spiritual victories at home and in 
foreign mission fields ; which satisfy the deepest wants of the 
soul, and convict men of sin and the need of salvation, and 
which consequently hold within themselves the redemption 
of the world until the end, — these doctrines the true be- 
lievers cling to even unto death, and they are the best custo- 
dians of them, and ever will be. 

§ 242. The people stand also as the best guardians of the 
independence of local churches. It is hardly too much to 
say that the ministry would have given our polity away alto- 
gether out of New England, but for the laity. " The most 
injurious practical mistake made in the working of our 
church order in this country was an affair of the ministers. 
The Plan of Union (1801) is a notable instance of the ill 
effects which may follow when ministerial meetings take upon 
themselves to manage affairs without deferring them to the 
judgment of the churches." ^^ Probably a greater mistake 
was the failure to find and use true remedies for the defects 
in discipline when the reliance of the churches on "the 
coercive power of the magistrate" ceased. This we have 
shown in another place.^^ Tliis failure to supply a needed 
remedy in time led men to distrust our polity as unfit for 
the West, or, indeed, any place but New England. Ministers 
and churches were advised to join the presbytery, and home 
missionary committees almost forbade the organization of 
Congregational churches. The missionaries were instructed 
that it was expected that they should join the presbytery ; 
" that it would not be either desirable or wise to organize 
any Congregational churches ; " and " that, while Congrega- 
tionalism did well enough for New England, it was not 
adapted to the recent settlements of the West." ^ That 
was in 1831. In the subsequent revival of Congregation- 
ahsm it has been said that " the ministers have not led in 
this matter, but followed. Congregationalism in Illinois is^ 

20 Prof. Ladd's Principles Ch. PoUty, 319. 21 j^ew Englander, 1883, 468-476. 

22 2 Cong. Quart. 192. 



CONGBEGATIONALISM AND HEBE 8 Y. 353 

very largely the result of a spontaneous movement of the 
people themselves." ^ In Ohio, Congregational churches 
"originated with the laymen, and not mth the ministers." 
The pastors carried the city churches over to the presby- 
tery .^^ The same was true in New York,^^ in Michigan,^^ 
and in other states. 2' 

In the Unitarian apostasy, our churches in England, by 
insisting on the examination of candidates for the ministry 
and by requiring credible evidence of experimental religion 
from them, preserved themselves, with the rarest exceptions, 
from the heresy which swept nearly all the Presbyterian 
churches away.^^ It was the pious people that withdrew 
from apostate parishes in New England in order that they 
might preserve the faith in its Scriptural integrity .^^ " It is 
probably the Unitarian controversy which served to fix the 
custom, as it now exists, of examining every candidate for 
ordination as pastor of a Congregational church."^ This 
examination had previously been neglected. A foot-note of 
a sermon preached by Dr. Samuel Hopkins, m 1768, ex- 
presses the fear that ordaining councils were beginning " to 
neglect the examination of candidates for the ministry with 
respect to their religious sentiments." ^^ Where the churches 
have insisted on a converted and orthodox ministry, they 
have preserved their soundness in the faith, but the inspira- 
tion of such tests has been in the pious laymen rather than 
in the ministry. 

§ 243. The way the Congregational churches deal with 
heretics conduces to purity of the faith. There are two 
ways of dealing with them. One method retains them in 

23 17 Cong. Quart. 403. 

24 Defence of Ohio Congregationalism, by Dr. Henry Cowles, 1, 2. The planting of 
Congregational churches had to be defended. 

25 1 Cong. Quart. 151, seq.; 2 Cong. Quart. 33, seq. 

26 2 Cong. Quart. 190, seq. 
27 10 Cong. Quart. 201, seq. 

28 Wilson's Hist. Dissenting Chhs., quoted in Spirit of the Pilgrims, iii, 537. 

29 Clark's Cong. Chhs. in Mass. 299, seq. 

30 Prof. Ladd'8 Principles Ch. Polity, 237, 238. 

31 Ibid. 237. 



354 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

fellowship, that they may be reclaimed ; but after long for- 
bearance casts them out, if not brought back to the faith. 
The other way is to make the unity of the body paramount 
to its purity. This latter method, as history abundantly 
proves, corrupts often the whole body past recovery ; for it 
seems to put no difference between truth and error, the essen- 
tial doctrines and "destructive heresies." The Scriptural 
way (§§ 94, 164) is the former method, which our churches 
have followed. As soon as Unitarian heresies became public 
in Massachusetts, the churches began the work of purgation, 
and it was soon completed. Whether there was undue haste 
in casting out or not, we are unable now to say. But the 
method of free churches was far more prompt and decisive 
than that pursued by centralized churches, whose unity 
would be destroyed by withdrawal of fellowship. No Mod- 
erates were cast out of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland ; 
no Unitarians from the Established Church in England ; no 
Rationalists from the continental churches. Had the Unita- 
rians in Ireland chosen to remain in the Presbyterian Church, 
they would not probably have been cut off from fellowship.^^ 
The Puritans and Methodists were driven out from the 
Anglican Church, as the earlier Reformers were from the 
Roman Catholic Church, not for heresy, but because they 
laid the axe at the root of those hierarchical systems in 
church polity. 

§ 244. The system of guards among independent churches 
is complete. Let us repeat them. Members, whether bap- 
tized in infancy or not, are received into our churches 
on profession of their faith in Christ and repentance of 
sin; and are expelled for denying the faith called evan- 
gelical as for immorality. Churches are recognized by 
council or received into associations of churches on 
condition of assenting to an evangelical creed, and they can 
be dealt with by council or expelled from the association to 
which they belong for heresy or any violation of the cove- 

32 Hall's mat. Presby. Ch. in Ireland, iii, 487. 



FOBCE OP OBJECTIONS, 355 

nant of their fellowship. Ministers are examined at ordina- 
tion, recognition, or installation, as to their soundness in the 
faith ; and on joining an association of churches or of minis- 
ters they bring credentials and assent to the creed and cove- 
nant of that association, from wliich they may be expelled if 
they violate either creed or covenant, and be brought before 
a council of churches for vindication or deposition in case 
they feel aggrieved. And this covenant may be either writ- 
ten or understood. Our general associations have generally 
doctrinal bases, and our National Council re-affirms the great 
confessions. No system is more complete. Authority with- 
out the civil power to enforce it adds nothing to it. It is as 
a Presbyterian is reported to have said : "■ Congregationalism 
politely invites a man to leave, and — he leaves; Presbyteri- 
anism tells him to go, and — he goes. The result in either 
case is the same." That is, the withdrawal of fellowship is 
as potent a method of discipline as the most terrible censures 
of ecclesiastical power. We think it impossible for one who 
distinguishes between essentials and incidentals, between 
rigor witliin the evangelical circle of doctrines and liberty 
of belief beyond that circle, to charge the conceded polity of 
the primitive churches with a tendency to unsoundness in 
the faith. 

SOME OBJECTIONS TO CONGREGATIONALISM CONSIDERED. 

§ 245. In answering objections to any thing, we need to 
know the force of objections ; for many men seem to think 
that any objection is destructive. 

(1) But some objections have no force whatever. Such 
are many objections drawn from church troubles against anj^ 
and every form of church government. For they lie rather 
against imperfect, though regenerate, church members. There 
is a great deal of human nature in Christians. Were mem- 
bers perfect in head and heart, church troubles could not 
arise ; but being imperfect in both head and heart, " it is im- 



356 TEE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

possible but that occasions of stumbling should come " (Luke 
17 : 1) ; and therefore no church pohty can escape troubles. 
One polity may deal with church troubles better than an- 
other, but the fact of such troubles is no objection against 
a polity. To give the objection the least force whatever, it 
must be shown that the trouble can not be met as well under 
that polity as under some other polity. 

(2) Some objections have force only against a faulty ad- 
ministration of chui'ch government. In no form is there 
perfect administration, since regenerate human nature is im- 
perfect. Hence in studying a polity we must separate it, as 
far as possible, from faults in administration. A faulty 
church government well administered may for a time appear 
to better advantage than a faultless polity badly adminis- 
tered. If an objection lies against a faulty administration, 
it is illogical to urge it against a pohty. A mistake in ad- 
ministering discipline is no objection against that discipline, 
unless the polity tends to multiply mistakes or neglects. 

(3) Some objections have real, but not conclusive, force. 
Were this not so, what could stand ? It is a real objection 
against civil government that injustice is sometimes done and 
justice sometimes fails to be done. Yet tliis objection is not 
conclusive against the ordinance of God, the State. The 
worst administration in the state is better than anarchy. It 
is a real objection against the climate of this earth, that it 
shortens man's life so much by its extremes and changes ; 
but the objection does not prove either the imperfection or 
the malignit}^ of God's government of nature. The exist- 
ence of sin is a real objection urged against God's moral gov- 
ernment, but no one can claim that it is conclusive. Objec- 
tions may lie against every form of church government, yet 
some form must be had. The church-kingdom can not exist 
in this world without some method of combining church ^vith 
church in fellowsliip and cooperation. 

(4) Objections can be used, therefore, only as tests by 
which to ascertain what form of church polity is the best. 



CONGBEGATIONALISM AND UNITY. 357 

And here no one will be so hardy as to deny that the plan of the 
inspired apostles, as respects polity, whatever that plan was, 
is on the whole freest from real objections, and mnst be the 
best. What the primitive polity in principle was is now gen- 
erally conceded (§ 109). And that polity, when drawn 
out in detail, is not to be set aside either by objections against 
its faulty administration or real objections against its most 
perfect administration. The force of objections needs ever 
to be kept in mind, lest we mistake in judging polities. 

§ 246. It has been objected that public discipline before 
the whole church is not the best way either for purity or 
peace. Discipline is like a storm, and we know of no storm 
that does not cause greater or less commotion. But we seek 
to follow Christ's rule exactly, and he is supposed to know 
what is best for his churches. The responsibility of keeping 
the church pure is not laid upon a few in the church, but 
upon the whole membership, which sobers and trains each 
member. But in certain, or even in all, cases the trial may 
be had before the church board or a jury of the church 
(§ 174), which limits, if it does not destroy, the objection. 
Then again our polity does not provide a series of judicato- 
ries, by which the strife or discipline of one congregation 
may become the strife and discipline of the whole church or 
community of churches. Congregationalism, following the 
Master's rule, confines the trouble to the narrowest limits. 
And in case of alleged grievance councils may be called to 
redress the grievances, if any exist (§ 186). 

§ 247. It has been said that Congregationalism lacks 
unity. And it is true that the visible signs of our unity 
have not been conspicuous. From the landing of the Pil- 
grims down to the organization of the National Council, in 
1871, there was no stated expression of the union of our 
churches in this country. They had met in occasional 
synods or councils, as in 1637, 1648, 1852, and 1865; but 
these meetings were neither frequent nor imposing enough 
to express the oneness of our churches. And district and 



358 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

state associations are of late origin (§ 208). "Strict inde- 
pendency clearly fails to give just prominence to the Script- 
ural doctrine of the fellowship of the churches, and the 
sacred unity of all in the one great Church of God on 
earth." ^ What is here affirmed of strict independency is. 
true, but the same can not be affirmed of Congregationalism ; 
for our polity is unifying. It fosters the life of Christ in the 
heart, which is unifying ; it rests not on sacramental, but on 
spiritual, regeneration and sanctiiication, which is unifying ; 
it rejects divisive force, which is unifying ; it seeks fellow- 
sliip with all the saints, wliich is unifjdng. We are not sur- 
prised, then, to learn that within the evangelical lines, the 
Congregational churches of no one country have ever been, 
divided into different communions. But this can not be 
said of other communions. The Western, or Latin Church,, 
separated from the Eastern, or Greek Church. The Lutheran, 
and the Reformed Churches were broken off from the Roman 
Catholic Church. The Puritans, Congregational and Presby- 
terial, and the Wesleyans were driven out from the Anglican 
Church. The cleavage of force still went on. Scotland 
was divided into five independent national Presbyterian 
bodies; the United States into nine such bodies. Method- 
ism breaks up into eleven distinct bodies in the United. 
States; five in Canada, recently united ; and nine in England 
and Ireland. Tliis cleavage under authority, but oneness 
under liberty, is a final answer to the objection. The force^ 
of this unifying love of Christ in free churches was early 
foreseen. Captain Edward Johnson wrote from Massachu- 
setts Bay, A.D. 1654 : " Could your eyes but behold the effi- 
cacy of loving council in the communion of Congregational 
churches, and the reverend respect, honor, and love given to 
all teaching elders, charity commands me to think you would, 
never stand for classical injunctions any more ; neither Dioce- 
san, nor Provincial authority can possibly reach so far as 
this royal law of love in communion of churches : verily it, 

33 Prof. Morris's Ecclesiology, 137. 



COXGBEGATIOXALISJI AXD EFFICIENCY. 359 

is more universal than tlie Papal power, and assuredly the 
days are at hand wherein both Jew and Gentile churches 
shall exercise this old model of church government, and 
send their church salutations and admonitions from one end 
of the world unto another, when the kingdoms of the earth 
are become our Lord Christ's ; then shall the exhortation of 
one church to another prevail more to reformation than all 
the thundering bulls, excommunicating lordly censures, and 
shameful penalties of all the lording churches of the world; 
and such shall be and is the efficacy of this entire love one 
to another, that the withdrawing of any one church of 
Christ, according to the rule of the Word, from those that 
walk inordinately, will be more terrible to the church or 
churches so forsaken than an army with banners."-^ 

§ 248. It has been said that Congregationalism lacks 
efficiency, and our past history in this country has gi^-en 
occasion for the objection. In the number of churches the 
Congregationalists were first in 1776, but seventh in 1876. 
This showed great inefficiency in home growth and evangeli- 
zation, but that the causes were other than those of polity 
is clear from the fact that the Baptists, who are as free 
and independent in poHty as oiu- churches are, retained the 
second place in the number of churches during the entire 
century.^ We must therefore look for the causes of the in- 
efficiency of our churches, as measured by growth, in other 
things than church government. 

(1) Our churches cherished more than any others the 
spirit of union. Hence they gave their energies for a long 
time, and that too at the beginning of missionary and benevo- 
lent operations, to the formation and support of union socie- 
ties. Had their labors here been wise, they would have been 
noble ; but they had not studied the problem profoundly, or 
they would have seen that two polities can not long walk 
together unless they be agreed ; that is, become one, and that 

3* Wonder Working Providence, book i, chap, xliv; Mass. Hist. Col. vols. 12, 14, 
17, 18. 35 Centennial Xo. North Am. Rev. 1S76, 36. 



360 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

consequently all union efforts end in denominational results 
(§ 232: 3, 5). By reason of this union sentiment our 
churclies neglected their golden opportunity, and built up 
other denominations. 

(2) The early union of Church and State, and the des- 
perate tenacity with which our churches clung to every 
shred that bound them to the State, were causes of early 
and late inefficiency. The Congregational churches were 
the established churches, for whose support all were taxed, 
though supporting other churches. This induced an aristo- 
cratic temper and a separation between these churches and 
all other churches and the non-church going population. 
When the liberty they had established produced a cleavage 
between the civil and the ecclesiastical powers, our churches 
clung desperately to the early but vanishing connection, even 
down to the present century. Their reliance on the State 
damaged both spiritual aggressiveness and popular favor, 
and so hindered growth. 

(3) And when the separation was finally effected, the 
parish system was retained, whose dual arrangement permits 
an adverse parish to dead-lock the church and drive it out 
stripped of all its property. This occurred ninety-six times 
in the Unitarian defection in Massachusetts. The parish 
system became a clog to growth. 

(4) The Plan of Union, a child of the Saybrook Platform 
of Consociationism, surrendered our polity to another. The 
Hartford Association of Ministers issued in 1799 a declara- 
tion affirming that the standards and usages of the Connect- 
icut churches were not Congregational but Presbyterian in 
their fundamental principle.^ It was natural, therefore, that 
the general association of ministers should propose to the 
general assembly of the Presbyterian Church cooperation in 
conducting missions throughout the West. Out of this pro- 
posal grew, in 1801, the plan of union which continued in 
operation fifty-one years, and which carried over more than 

3« Gilletf 8 Hist. Presby. Ch. i, 438, 439, note. 



C0NGBEGATI0NALI8M AND EFFICIENCY. 361 

two thousand churches, in origin and habits Congregational, 
to the Presbyterians. These churches being planted in 
places where great cities grew up, became generally strong 
and of commanding influence. It is no wonder that the 
denomination receiving these churches should charge us 
with inefficiency, since it has so many proofs of it on its 
rolls. 

(5) Neglecting to care for their own, to remedy the de- 
fects in their discipline, and to work their own principles, 
our leading men soon distrusted their own polity. They dis- 
couraged the organization of Congregational churches out of 
New England, and advocated the desertion of its principles. 
*' There is no more self-convicting and mortal, nay, cowardly 
and suicidal, heresy regarding this polity than to claim its 
fitness only for provincial uses, selected classes, opportune 
seasons, and favoring circumstances." ^^ Had it not been for 
a few ministers true to the faith and polity of their fathers,^ 
and for the faithful laity (§§ 241, 242), our union labors and 
the ministerial distrust of our polity would have prevented 
the planting of Congregational churches west of the Hudson. 
When the golden opportunity arrived for efficient work in 
the West, our churches were devoting, largely, their energies 
to the building up of other polities. They left their own 
vineyard to cultivate those of neighbors. It is a wonder that 
Congregationalism was not swallowed up and lost in this 
current of its own making. Those who reaped the fields of 
our planting and put the golden grain into their own granary 
admired our suicidal benevolence, but held the polity that 
could do such things in contempt. 

(6) Efficiency arises partly from using the wisdom of the 
wise. There are still diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 
Hence some men have greater wisdom and executive ability 
than others. They can lay plans for the centuries, and work 
out results the greater the longer the centuries continue. 
Some polities make such men bishops, cardinals, popes. We 

87 Prof. Ladd's Prin. Ch. Polity, 325. 38 2 Cong. Quart. 192, seq. 



362 THE CHURCH' KINGDOM, 

can not surrender liberty that a hierarchy may govern. The 
polity of the New Testament trains the rank and file as well 
as the officers in the army of the Lord ; but this does not 
prevent the wisdom of the wisest from directing affairs by 
counsel though not by command. With a trained member- 
ship meeting in associations where the wisest may make their 
plans the concern of all, our polity may become the most 
efficient of all. 

(7) Efficiency arises partly from using the resources given 
us. We, as churches, have been very benevolent and active, 
but we have been wanton in the use of these elements of 
power. Some have so feared denominational tendencies that 
they have preferred union societies to our own, never 
dreaming that every cent they gave turned up somewhere 
with a denominational stamp on it (§ 232 : 3, 5). This scat- 
tering through catholic channels into denominational folds 
has done good ; but it would have done more good, if liberty 
counts for any thing in the churches or nations, had free 
churches been planted by it. Disguise it how men may, in- 
dependent churches can not foster centralized polities with- 
out loss. We have societies as ably and wisely administered 
as any, and when we learn, as we are learning, to put all our 
resources into these channels, our efficiency will no longer be 
questioned. The Baptists, with the same free polity, have 
had no union with the State ; have been free from the parish 
system where the law allowed ; have worked through no plan 
of union, but have used their wisdom and resources in the 
extension of their faith and polity ; and the result vindicates 
their wisdom and efficiency. A Baptist writer says : " Our 
principle of obedience to Christ makes us, first, Baptists our- 
selves, and then immediately sets us to making Baptists of 
others. If we cease to make proselytes, it is because we, so 
far, cease to be Baptists. We become Baptists and we be- 
come propagandists of Baptist views by one and the same 
almighty creative act of God."^^ Had our churches been 

8» Dr. Wilkinson's The Baptist Principle. 8. 



CONGBEGATIONALISM AND CENTEALIZATION. 363 

possessed of a similar spirit, or even a spirit of caring for 
their own, our history would have been our vindication for 
efficiency. Possessing at the outset well-nigh the Republic, 
we should have well-nigh possessed it to-day. Of late years 
our churches have been gaining in efficiency without narrow- 
ness, and this objection begins to lose its force. 

(8) Complete efficiency is secured by the union of wisdom 
and resources. We do not require for efficiency the sword 
of Peter in the garden, but the sword of the Spirit ; not coer- 
cion, but love ; not ecclesiastical courts, but Christian graces ; 
not bigotry, but husbandry. To elevate the few and debase 
the many ; to compel assent against the right of private judg- 
ment; to lord it over the charge allotted; to be master and 
lord in the Church of Christ, — these and such as these are 
not the ends of chorch government; and for these "Congre- 
gationalism is a rope of sand," neither strong nor efficient. 
But for all the divine ends of church government — to foster 
the growth of Christian graces in the membership ; to hold 
fast and forth the true faith ; to stimulate the missionary spirit 
by laying the whole responsibility upon the local churches ; ta 
balance liberty and security in even scale ; to join behevers 
in one unbroken front of unity against all enemies — Con- 
gregationalism is, we believe, the best, the strongest, the most 
efficient. It preserves purity, liberty, unity. It secures uni- 
versal fellowship, cooperation, and efficiency. "It was the 
plan of the apostles," therefore, "to plant many absolutely 
independent churches." This is Congregationalism, " a rope 
of sand " as respects authority ; but the Lord's appointed 
cord of love, to bind in truth and hbert}- all churches into 
one in Christ Jesus. We believe it to be the weakest for 
evil and the strongest for good of any form of church gov- 
ernment.^ May it soon ffil the world with truth, liberty, and 
unity. 

§ 249. It is said that the form of Congregationalism given 
in these Lectures is centralizing, and is therefore subversive of 
church independence. Let us repeat our denial of it. 

*o 12 Cong. Quart. 560, 561. 



364 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

(1) The centralization of unity is not dangerous ; for the 
Author of Christian liberty prayed that all his followers 
might be one, that the world might believe on him — a unity 
that is visible and that exhibits the oneness of the indivisible 
church-kingdom. The evils of the past centuries have not 
arisen from the associations of churches in district, state, 
national, and ecumenical bodies, the centralization of love in 
free fellowship ; but liberty was lost in the union of Church 
and State ; the centralization of love was coerced by the 
civil power. Wherever there has been a separation between 
Church and State, the movement in centralized systems has 
been among the people to greater liberty. Even the State 
can no longer enforce uniformity. We must not forget that 
force in the churches came from the State, and falls with the 
separation of Church and State. It was not born of fellow- 
ship. For 

(2) Fellowship is devoid of authority. It is the associa- 
tion of equal and free churches. Authority is excluded by 
constitutional provision, and no case of attempted coercion 
by associations of churches has ever come to our notice. 

(3) Votes of associations are void of authority. We ex- 
press opinions by votes and resolutions. Editors express 
their opinions in their papers, speakers in their speeches. 
If church liberty forbids the expression of an opinion by 
vote or resolution, it must also prevent editors and speakers 
and preachers and others from uttering an opinion. Voting 
is only a quick way of ascertaining opinions. If the force 
of a vote depends on the reason for it, as does the force of 
a speech or editorial, the vote of an association of churches 
through chosen messengers is more likely to be wise and more 
likely to command the assent of free churches than an edi- 
torial or speech which represents only one man. But a free 
uniformity among independent churches, secured by means 
•of public discussion and vote, is not a dangerous element. 
It is not the uniformity of force and proscription, and hence 
can never create a scliism ; it is the uniformity of truth and 



PEBILS ESCAPED, 365 

love. Under our present system of associations there is 
greater liberty and closer fellowship than ever before in our 
history. 

(4) Our churches, in their closer fellowship, have escaped 
the bondage of personal leadership. In the past, individuals 
by commanding influence have obtained great personal follow- 
ing, and have founded schools of thought, making larger or 
smaller eddies in the great stream of religious life and belief, 
which eddies absorbed the thought and energies of the 
churches until they passed away. Against the consensus of 
all our churches expressed in state and national bodies, the 
voice of leaders will now be faint. The rise of the religious 
paper would give increased force to this dangerous element 
of personal leadership but for the associations of churches. 
The churches will call such leaders as once dominated New 
England thought from their speculations and peculiar isms 
back to the great working doctrines of the gospel of Christ. 
The churches care little for criticism or speculation, but they 
do care for the grand doctrines of the historic faith of Christen- 
dom, which have flowed through the centuries like a crystal 
river from the throne of God, burying, except for the histo- 
rian, system after system of philosophical theology. Eddies 
are beautiful, but they are in shallow water or near the shore, 
never in the deep river. The church members care little for 
the side attractions, but they will lay down their lives for 
the grand doctrines of redeeming grace. And they can now 
make their voice heard as never before. Hence our method 
of associations of churches is favorable neither to personal 
rule nor private interpretation, whether by pastor, professor, 
or editor. 

(5) There is no danger to liberty in our escaping from 
ministerial guidance. Ministerial associations (§ 205) have 
exerted considerable influence over their members and 
over churches. The state association of Connecticut was 
formed in 1709 ; that of Vermont, in 1796 ; that of Massa- 
chusetts, in 1803 ; and those of New Hampsliire and Rhode 



366 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

Island, in 1809. These bodies were for a time composed 
wholly of ministers, and acted for the churches in many- 
things, as in the plan of union (§ 248: 4). They consti- 
tuted a form of clerical government. Surely associations of 
churches are as much less dangerous as they are more normal 
modes of fellowship than these clerical bodies. 

(6) There is no danger to liberty in escaping from the 
perils of consociationism. In 1708 twelve ministers and four 
laymen met by order of the Assembly or Legislature of Con- 
necticut at Say brook, to devise a remedy for the evils of lax 
discipline consequent upon the growing separation of Church 
and State. They framed and issued the Saybrook Platform, 
which the said legislature, without any further approval of 
the churches, made the established ecclesiastical order of 
Connecticut.*^ This Platform consociated the churches of a 
county, or of a definite part of a county, into an ecclesiastical 
body called a consociation. Cases of discipline could be 
carried to a council composed of the churches consociated 
together, which should give "a final issue, and all parties 
therein concerned shall sit down and be determined thereby " ; 
or, if the case were too large or difficult for one consociation 
to handle, another might join with it in determining the final 
issue.^ This Platform has had a double interpretation, one 
of which regards it as purely Congregational in principle 
and results; but the other regards it as subversive of the 
independence of the local churches and as introducing into 
consociations the fundamental principle of Presbyterianism.*^ 
The latter was the view of the Hartford North Association 
of Ministers.^ This Platform, by going too far in remedying 
" the defects of discipline in the churches " occasioned by 
the partial but growing separation of Church and State, hin- 
dered the introduction of a better method, until the system 
of consociated churches had been largely neglected in Con- 

41 Bacon's mst. Address, in Contrib. to Eccl. mst. Ct. 38, 39. 

« Saybrook Plat. art. v, 7. 

« Contrib. Eccl. Hist. 40, seq. 

" Gillett's Hist. Presby. Ch. i, 438, 439, note. 



LIBEBTY AND UNITY BALANCED. 367 

necticut, and prevented its spread into other colonies and 
states. Yet the Saybrook Platform saved every church in 
Connecticut from the Unitarian apostasy, which carried over 
so many of the unassociated churches of Massachusetts. 
This plan of consociation now embraces only four bodies, 
and these are in Connecticut. 

(7) Our present method of church associations avoids all 
centralization but that of united fellowship. Our churches 
are relieved from personal leadership, from civil and clerical 
<3ontrol, from consociationism ; and our system of church 
associations, with redress in mutual councils, gives unity 
without loss of liberty. These associations include all our 
churches. If a church violate its covenant which it entered 
into on joining the association, it may be expelled for the 
same, or fellowship may be withdrawn from it. But there is 
here, as in the case of ministerial standing in associations, 
no exercise of authority over the church ; for all the associa- 
tion does is to clear itself in self-protection of an unworthy 
member. The church may manage all its own affairs, even 
to having whom it will as pastor ; but it may not presume to 
manage the affairs of other churches and force itself upon 
their fellowship in association ; for that would be the exercise 
of authority by one church over other churches. To deny an 
association of churches this common right of self -protection, 
under the cry of centralization, is the absurdity of license ; is 
to make one wayward church supreme in power ; it is to give 
the said church the right and power to compel others to 
fellowship it. Fellowship is reciprocal, between equals, and 
it is no centralization to exclude the unworthy from fellow- 
ship. 

(8) Our present method of church associations rightly 
balances liberty and unity. It leaves each church to man- 
age its own affairs in all respects, while it gives to all a free, 
equal, visible fellowship together in counsels and labors. 
Each church can worship God as it judges best ; may have 
its own creed and discipline ; may choose and install its 



368 THE CEUBCH- KINGDOM. 

pastor ; may do whatever it likes within its own organization^ 
But when the inherent law of fellowship causes it to look 
beyond itself in communion with, other churches, it must 
show an evangelical creed and a Christian walk as the condi- 
tion of that wider fellowship. If ever it lapse from the 
faith or violate in other ways its covenant, it has given cause 
for disfellowship and should be cut off as unworthy. If it 
feel aggrieved by the action, it can ask for a mutual council 
to review the whole case and give advice as to restoration 
or exclusion, which advice shall be final. This gives liberty 
under unity, and unity in liberty. 

Thus the centralization presented in this ecumenical sys- 
tem is only the centralization of the life of God in the 
hearts of redeemed and renewed sinners, which manifests the 
unity of the church-kingdom in harmony with the constitu- 
tive principle of its manifestation. In it the prayer of 
Christ Jesus may be fully answered, that all may be one,, 
while liberty is assured unto the feeblest church. 

§ 250. It has been said that Congregationalism was an 
anomaly in the days of the apostles. "The presumption 
that a pure democracy was at once established in every in-^ 
stance where a church was organized, whether on Gentile or on 
Jewish soil — that one uniform mode was inflexibly followed,, 
in whatever form of civil society, and without regard to the 
antecedent experience or culture of those uniting in the or- 
ganization ; and especially that a type of government which 
had literally no representative, or even suggestion, among 
the civil governments then existing, and which neither the 
Jewish believer trained in the synagogue system, nor the 
Gentile believer disciplined under the imperial sway of Rome,, 
could possibly have comprehended at the outset, was inva- 
riably instituted wherever Christianity was carried — is cer- 
tainly one which it is difficult for any mind that appreciates, 
these conditions even to entertain." *^ 

(1) If Christianity were an evolution, it could hardly have 

45 Prof. Morris's Ecclesiology, 18a5, 135, 136. 



THE PBIMITIVE ANOMALY. 369 

appeared in the world under this reasoning ; but it was a rev- 
elation, not a mere evolution, and as such it would naturally 
take in its beginning, whatever its environment, the essen- 
tial form in doctrine and polity of its final completeness* 
The leaven hid in the meal is the leaven that leavens the 
whole lump. 

(2) The gospel was an anomaly in the world, and it were 
not strange if its polity were also an anomaly. True, the 
preceding dispensations had prepared the way for it, and so 
had they prepared the way also for the polity of independent 
churches. Professor Morris admits that the Scriptural con- 
ception of the church is an anomaly : — " Not as an empire or 
an oligarchy, but rather as a spiritual democracy — a holy 
brotherhood of saints, in which ithe principle of equality is 
the fundamental law, and in which those who rule, in what- 
ever station, are still the servants of all, in the name of 
Christ."^ This anomalous equality made the churches 
independent because equal. 

(3) The Jews were well acquainted, and had been for cen- 
turies, with synagogues, each independent of each and all 
the rest. Each elected its own officers and conducted its 
own discipline. In this conceded equality and independence 
are found the elements of Congregationalism (§§ 41 : 3 ; 
102). 

(4) But no presumption can set aside a fact. It is con- 
ceded that the primitive churches were independent democ- 
racies (§ 109) ; that it was " the plan of the apostles to 
plant many churches each absolutely independent of the 
rest." And this they did. Within there may have been, 
and the oldest liturgies prove that there were, minor diversi- 
ties of worship and order, but without all were independent 
one of another, as were the Jewish synagogues. They were 
democracies ; no point connected with them is more fully 
demonstrated or more generally conceded, which no pre- 
sumption drawn from an unfavorable environment can be 
allowed to set aside. 

«6 Prof. Morris's Ecclesiology, 1885, 135. 



370 THE CHUBCH- KINGDOM. 

§ 251. Removing what is common to other polities from 
Congregationalism, the remainder is said " to be too casual 
and too slight to sustain the extensive fabric of inferences 
based upon it."*^ But its conceded constitutive principle 
will bear the load of inferences even unto ecumenical unity. 
Nothing more is needed ; for fellowship is able to construct, 
after many past experiments, on this one principle, a com- 
plete and permanent method of exhibiting the unity of 
the church-kingdom. The temple is rising upon this one 
foundation. 

§ 252. And this anomalous democratic polity gives ample 
scope for the exercise of all the authority deposited in the 
churches. Professor Morris says: "There is conveyed in 
this theory an inadequate conception of the true province 
and worth of government as a central feature of all church 
organizations." ^^ He cites in support of the worth of gov- 
ernment as the central feature of all church organizations 
these passages : 1 Cor. 12 : 28 ; 2 Peter 2 : 10 ; Rom. 12:8; 
Heb. 13: 7,17; 1 Tim. 5: 17; Acts 20: 17,28; and the 
Corinthian Epistles. Congregationalism heartily uses all the 
authority and government here referred to. It exhausts the 
panel. 

These are all the objections given by Professor Morris in 
his recent vrork referred to, save the one given in § 247 on 
fellowship. They lie forcibly against independency, but not 
against Congregationalism, and so are easily answered as not 
relevant. 

§ 253. As a final resort it is said that church government 
is left by Christ and his apostles to the discretion of believers 
in every age. The objection leaves the Papacy, Episcopacy, 
Presbyterianism, and Congregationalism as equally author- 
ized. If the objection were true, our polity would have 
a better claim than any other, for it is the conceded polity of 
the apostles, who had the spirit of Christ. They planted in- 
dependent churches, and so gave this polity the preference 
in act, if not in word. But the objection is not true. 

47 Prof. Morris's Ecclesiology, 1885, 136. « Ibid. 



POLITY AND ni8CBETI0N. 371 

(1) Polity is of the essence of the Chlirch. The Church 
is the communion of saints, who are citizens of one and the 
same church-kingdom. That communion rests on some nor- 
mal principle and must take a form consistent therewith. 
Form here, as in nature, is determined by the life, and the 
same stage in life does not produce many forms. The holy 
life of faith, the reign of Christ in the hearts of men, must 
manifest itself in some form built after the essential nature 
of that life and reign. It can not fundamentally be one 
thing here and now and another thing at another time and 
place. In the divine mind the church-kingdom has but one 
normal development into visible churches, and hence but one 
normal relation of church to church (§§ 47, 98). Church 
polity can not be incidental and discretionary, therefore, but 
of the essence of the Church. Polity is the mould or form 
which the church-kingdom takes in manifestation ; and as 
there can be, in God's thought, but one mode of manifesta- 
tion in exact accord with the nature of the church-kingdom, 
there can be but one true polity. Hence church polity is not 
discretionary. 

(2) This is the conviction of men. Not one of the four 
great polities but claims or has claimed a divine warrant for 
it. All instinctively feel that human expediency or discre- 
tion touching the organic form of a divine revelation is 
unwarranted. Hence they search the Scriptures as with 
a lighted candle for some word or phrase or text which may 
support their theory. And it must be confessed with shame 
that often the holy Scriptures have been perverted into sup- 
port of a particular polity. The Revised Version of the 
New Testament removed several such perversions from the 
Authorized Version. These perversions and the persistency 
with which men return to the Bible for proofs reveal the deep- 
seated conviction that polity is not discretionary. It is not 
until they are driven from the revealed Word in confusion 
that they resort to the claim of expediency and discretion 
for refuge. 



372 THE CHUBGH- KINGDOM. 

(3) The New Testament gives the constitutive principle 
of one of the great polities with sufficient clearness to indi- 
cate conclusively what polity the church-kingdom requires. 
That principle deposits the permanent power of discipline in 
the local churches (§ 161 : 2) ; it forbids prelatical rule ; it 
shows that the apostles planted independent churches. This 
is so clearly proved that it is conceded by those who hold 
other polities. Archbishop Whately calls it "the plan of 
the apostles." Now if this one constitutive principle be con- 
ceded, all else follows ; but the proof compels the concession. 
With this concession all questions of expediency and discre- 
tion are swallowed up in the divine plan. 

(4) It is the duty of all Christians to obey the will of 
Christ in polity as in doctrine. If appeal be taken to tradi- 
tion, decrees of councils, papal bulls, inner light, reason, 
discretion, expediency, or any thing else, it can be done as 
well for doctrine as for polity, and the churches are cut loose 
from Christ their Head and King at once. Once out on 
such a sea, shipwreck is certain. The will of Christ, when 
made known, is our only law and safety. The churches, 
through an unfavorable environment and union with the 
State, broke away from the plan of the apostles, and since 
then have tried every form of polity ; but the corruptions in 
doctrine and morals, and the oppressions and persecutions 
under authority, have proved that in church polity the way 
of the transgressor is hard. And so they are slowly returning 
from their wanderings unto the primitive polity again. 

(5) Tlie future belongs to the primitive church polity of 
unity in liberty. If our reasoning in these Lectures be cor- 
rect, the ecumenical unity of the Mediator's prayer will be 
reached not through the polity of an infallible primacy, or of 
apostolic succession, or of authoritative representation, but 
through the polity of church independency or liberty. And 
since the right of private judgment has been vindicated, the 
drift has been setting strongly towards that liberty both in 
Church and in State. "And the most significant fact of 



CONaBEGATIONALISM AND THE FUTUBE. 373 

modern Christian history is that, within the last hundred 
years, many millions of our own race and our own [An- 
glican] Church, without departing from the ancient faith, 
have slipped from beneath the inelastic frame-work of the 
ancient organization, and formed a group of new societies on 
the basis of a closer Christian brotherhood and an almost 
absolute democracy."*^ Democratic institutions are in the 
air as never before. A ground-swell has begun which will 
not cease until liberty in Church and State is assured unto 
all the people in all lands. Our fathers brought liberty to 
this continent at great cost ; they put liberty at first under 
restraint ; and they complained of those who kept " buzzing 
our people in the ear with a tiring they call liberty, which 
when they have tasted a smack of, they can no more endure 
to hear of a synod or gathering together of able and ortho- 
dox Christians, nor yet the communion of churches, but 
would be independent to purpose, and as for civil govern- 
ment, they deem religion to be a thing beyond their sphere."^ 
This " thing they call liberty " has been buzzed in the ear of 
the people to some purpose in this and in other lands. 
" Sixty years ago [1820] Europe was an aggregate of des- 
potic powers, disposing at their own pleasure of the lives 
and property of their subjects, maintaining by systematic 
neglect [of common schools] the convenient ignorance which 
renders misgovernment easy and safe. To-day [1880] the 
men of western Europe govern themselves. Popular suf- 
frage, more or less closely approaching universal, chooses the 
governing power, and by methods more or less effective dic- 
tates its policy. One hundred and eighty million Europeans 
have risen from a degraded and ever-dissatisfied vassalage to 
the rank of free and self-governing men." "Never since the 
stream of human development received into its sluggish cur- 
rents the mighty impulse communicated by the Christian 
religion has the condition of man experienced ameliorations 

« Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 215. 

Ee Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, book 1, chap. xliv. 



374 THE CHTJBCH- KINGDOM. 

SO vast. ... The nineteenth century has witnessed the fall of 
despotism and the establishment of liberty in the most influ- 
ential nations of the world. It has vindicated for all suc- 
ceeding ages the right of man to his own unimpeded develop- 
ment. . . . The growth of man's well-being, rescued from 
the mischievous tampering of self-willed princes, is left now 
to the beneficent regulation of great providential laws."^^- 
" The people are every-where and in every thing coming to 

the front, and in the front henceforth they are destined for- 
ever to remain." ^^ 

The labor ferments reveal a determined movement on th& 
part of the people to share in some just and equitable way 
in the management and profit of business. The laborer is 
no longer content with his wages while his employer pockets 
the profits, but he too claims a share in the profits, and he 
will not rest until he obtains it and stands on a level with 
his employer. There is, in fact, to be in the future no gov- 
erning class in business, in the State, and in the Church, 
whose function it is to rule the people. There is to be a 
brotherhood including all on terms of equality. This move- 
ment touching business, the State, and the Church may be 
hindered, but it can not be stayed. It is born of the Father- 
hood of God and the brotherhood of man. And those forms 
of government, wherever found, which raise a class of rulers 
into an aristocracy or a hierarchy over the ruled are destined 
to perish from the earth. The Papacy, the Episcopacy, and 
Presbyterianism thus separate the rulers from the ruled, but 
each in its degree. No bridge can unite the ruled and the 
rulers under those systems and make them one. The rulers 
must come down to the people and become one with them in 
a democracy. There is no other way. The king of England 
cried out : " No bishop, no king," and harried the Puritans 
out of his kingdom. Events are justifying the wisdom 
of his mad cry. For a free Church ends in a free State ; 

" Mackenzie's Hist. Nineteenth Century, 459, 460. 
" Prof. Ladd's Principles Ch. PoUt3^ 331. 



CONGBEGATIONALISM AND THE FUTUBE. 375 

religious liberty is the mother of civil freedom. Christianity 
builds democracies ; for it teaches the brotherhood of man 
and the equality of all churches and Christians. This world- 
movement towards liberty was begun at Calvary and will 
end only in the ecumenical millennial glory. " Christianity's 
unaccomplished mission is to re-construct society on the basis 
of brotherhood. What it has to do it does, and will do, in 
and through organization. . . . But the framing of its organi- 
zation is left to human hands. To you and me and men like 
ourselves is committed, in these anxious days, that which is 
at once an awful responsibility and a splendid destiny — to 
transform this modern world into a Christian society; to 
change the socialism which is based on the assumption of 
clashing interests into the socialism which is based on the 
sense of spiritual union ; and to gather together the scattered 
forces of a divided Christendom into a confederation in 
which organization will be of less account than fellowship 
with one spirit and faith in one Lord — into a communion 
wide as human life and deep as human need — into a Church 
which shall outshine even the golden glory of its dawn by 
the splendor of its eternal noon." ^ 

63 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 216. 



INDEX. 



Aaronic priesthood, 13, 132. 

Abrahamic Call and Covenant, 7, 8, 10, 11, 
12, 31, 208, 211. 

Accountability of ministers, 154-165, ITS- 
ITS. 

Activities, church, 312-323; cooperation 
in, 314; determined by polity, 93, 94. 

Acts 9 : 31, meaning of " church " in, 166- 
168. 

Advertising church troubles, 255. 

Advice changed into decrees by the state, 
296, 325. 

Alford, Dean, on apostolical succes- 
sion, 141, 142. 

Alliance between church and the world, 
331, 332, 342, 343. 

Alliance, Evangelical, Creed, 23T. 

Alliance, Presbyterian, T4; abandons 
constitutive principle, T4, 75; number 
of churches in, 76. 

American churches and the State, 32T- 
337. 

Anabaptists and the ministry, 134. 

Andrews, Prof. E. B., 31, 40. 

"Angels," the, of "the seven churches," 
346, 14T. 

Anghcan Church and the Bible, 66; and 
fellowship, 66; its standard of faith, 
66, 99; origin, 66; Prayer Book of, 66; 
visible church, 4. 

Apostates from the kingdom, 110. 

Apostle, election of an, 114, 115. 

Apostles, the, 138-142; administration of 
sacraments by, 226; authority of, 140; 
authority of , over churches, 124; com- 
pleted church order, 142; equal in rank, 
140; founded churches every where, 3T; 
inspired, 139, 140; meaning of their 
name, 124; miraculous gifts of, 140; 
number of, 138; quahflcations of, 1)8- 
142; selected by Christ, 138; successors 
of, 141, 142; taught by Christ, 139. 

Apostolate, the, temporary, 140-142; va- 
cancies in, 124, 141, 142. 

Apostolic, churches, composed of saints, 
107, 108; Fathers, on independence of 
churches, 118, 119; succession, 62, 63, 85, 
86, 141, 142. 

ApostoUcal constitutions, 60, 135, 173,200, 
201,212,221. 

Appeals, associations and, 160-163; 
churches and, 112, 113; Presbyterian, 
71-74 

Association, church, a law of the king- 
dom, 38-40; ecumenical, needed, 38, 82, 
311. 

Associations of churches. 295-306; author- 
ity of, 300, 301; avoitl centralization, 
284, 295, 296, 363-368; conditions of mem- 
bei-ship in, 302, 347; councils and, 282; 
covenant of, 296, 298, 302; deposition 



by, 288, 289; discipline by, 301-304 j dis. 
trict, 81, 82; early, in America, 297, 298; 
English, 298; expulsion from, 163, 164, 
282,283,301-304; fellowship in, 295; im- 
portance of, 295, 296; Massachusetts 
Colony on, 297; membership in, 298, 
299, 305 ; mistakes and, 160, 288 ; national, 
82; normal, 269; origin, 296-298; partici- 
pate in councils, 282-284; pastoral dele- 
gates in, 302, 303; representation in, 
298, 299; state, 82; warrant of, 296; 
Year Book and, 283, 284, 286, 305. 

Associations of ministers, 292-295. 

Attempted return to Patriarchal Church. 
17, 18. 

Augustine and the Donatists, 49; on bishy 
ops and elders, 145. 

Authoritative representation, constitu- 
tive principle of Presbyterianism, 72. 

Authority of svnods under Constantine,, 
325, 337. 

Bacon, Dr. Leonard, 21. 

Bancroft, George, on the Puritans,, 89. 

Baptism, 207-216; administered bv whom,, 
225-228; adult, 211; Christian, required, 
32, 33, 207; confession of Christ and, 
215, 216; confirmation and, 214; essen- 
tial elements in, 207; in distress, 226,, 
227 ; infant, 211-213 ; infant, and church 
membership, 213-216; infant, more than, 
consecration, 216; initiatory rite, -^08,, 
219; intent essential, 209; John's, not. 
Christian, 33, 208, 209; mode of, 210, 211;, 
nature of, 207, 208; only once to be ad- 
ministered, 210; prerequisite to the Eu- 
charist, 219; purity of the churches; 
and, 107-109, 211-216; Roman Catholic, 
209, 210; salvation and, 29, 54, 212,227;, 
subjects of, 211-213; superseded circum- 
cision, 108, 207-209, 212; symbol of a 
changed life, 105, 106, 207, 208; Unitari- 
an, 209. 

Baptismal regeneration, 50, 213. 

Baptist view of the covenant and chil- 
dren, 211, 216. 

Baptists, efficiency of, 359, 362; standard 
of faith, 99. 

Baptized children, discipline of, 235; re- 
lation to the church, 213-216. 

Barnabas, called an apostle, 138, 141. 

Basis, doctrinal and ecclesiastical, of the 
National Council, 346, 347. 

Bases, doctrinal, of state bodies, 346, 347.. 

Believers and visible churches, 171. 

Bible, the, inspired, 33, M; other stand- 
ards than, 98, 99; sole standard, 99. 

Bigotry, polities not due to, 41, 94. 

" Binding " and " loosing," 113, 114. 

Bishops, primitive, same as elders, 60, 
61, 124, 145; presiding, 61, 62. 



378 



INDEX. 



Brotherhood, primitive churches a, 96; 

Christian, and polity, 127, 130; Cliristian 

society to be built on, 374, 375. 
Browne, Robert, and polity, 91, 268. 
Buck, Edward, Esq., Mass. Eccl. Law, 

admissibility of evidence, 251; legal 

elements in installation, 290. 
Bunsen, independence of primitive 

churches, 126. 
Burial Hill Declaration, 346. 
Business, church, demands order and 

regularity, 229, 231. 

Calvin, John, author of Presbyterian! sm, 
71; his Institutes, 18; used temporal 
power, 326. 

Cambridge Confession, 346. 

Cambridge Platform and the General 
Court, 345 n. 

Candlish, Dr. J. S., 28, 43, 90. 

Catechumens, 221, 312,313; early manual 
for, 313. 

Censures, church, 254; public annoimce- 
ment of, 255; vote to lift, 254, 255. 

Centralization, dangers avoided, 367. 

Ceremonial Church, 11-17; covenant of, 
11, 12; inadequacy of, 16; developed 
into the Christian Church, 32, 33, J 28; 
unity of, 12, 13. 

Ceremonial Dispensation, a Theocracy, 
14; covered all codes, 12; development 
from the Patriarchal, 11, 12; bound to 
the Patriarchal, 31; national form of 
the Church of God, 11-17; temporary, 
16, 17; unity of, 12, 13, 15, 16. 

Ceremonial Law abolished, 120; inade- 
quate, 16; minute and fixed, 13. 

Challenge, no right of, in trials, 250, 280. 

" Chiefs," in New Testament, 146. 

Children, church duties towards, 213-216, 
235; may not vote, 257, 258. 

China, government of, older than the 
Papacy, 47. 

Christ Jesus a High Priest, 132, 133; as- 
sumed regal power, 24; superseded 
other priesthoods, 133; taught for 
churches, 111-113. 

Christian Church, 98; early confusion of 
thought respecting, 47-51; priesthood 
in, 133, 134. 

Christian Dispensation, 21; bound to the 
Ceremonial, 31 ; not a succession but a 
continuance, 30, 31. 

Christianity, adjustments of, 94-96; not 
an evolution, 131, 342, 368, 369. 

Church, meaning of, 166; Matt. 18: 17, 
111-113. 

Church, a, 110, 111, 170, 171; in Episco- 
pacy, 64, 65; not a congregation, 107; 
not a voluntary society, 171; parity in, 
171, 172; tests of admission to, 105. 

Chur("h board, 185; duties of, 186; im- 
portance of, 180; trial by, 219, 357. 

Church of God, conditioned in apostasy, 
6; forms of, 3, 4, 21; origin of, 6, 7; 
what it is, 5, 98; without cleavage, 32, 
33. 

Church of Christ, the, 4, 5, 98; a develop- 
ment in part, 32, 33, 109; doctrine of, 
one, not many, 44, 45; manifests the 
kingdom of heaven, 4.', 43, 98, 104; the- 
ories of, 40, 45, 4(), 84, 85; true theory, 
41, 97,98, 118, 119, 126-1.30; visible and 
invisible, 4,49, 50; impoitauce of this 



distinction, 50; manward side of the 
kingdom, 103. 

Church government, force of faulty ad- 
ministration of, 356. 

Church-kingdom, the, 103, 104, 121. 

Church meetings, importance of regu- 
lar, 231. 

Church polities, narrow lines separate, 
•41; origin of, 39,40. 

Church relations, all Israel entered, 12; 
no salvation out of papal, 29, 48. 

Church taxation, 333. 

Churches, nctivities of, 312-323; author- 
ity of democratic, 355, 364; baptism ad- 
mitted to primitive, 105, 106; boards of 
control in, 185; city, of New Testament, 
168-170; cooperation of, 314; discipUne 
of, 111-113; discipline of primitive, 106, 
107; doctrinal soundness of Congrega- 
tional, 347, 349,350; divine factors in 
fellowship, 39, 364; holy assemblies, 
104-108; independence of primitive, 110- 
130; independent of the State, 324, 
325, 332; life-centers of evangelization, 
312, 339; manifest the kingdom of 
heaven, 36, 37, 104; materials of, 100, 
104-108; members of, equal, 171, 17.'; 
mission of, never abandoned, 95; multi- 
plied not through bigotry, 41 ; number of 
in New England, in 1648,345 n; organs 
of the Holy Spirit, 126, i52, 1.53, 323; 
planted every -where, 37; primitive in- 
tercourse of , 116, 117; property of , 324, 
335-337; relation of, to kingdom of 
heaven, 43-45; relation of, to State, 323- 
337; in Connecticut, 337, 338; in New 
England, 328; in papal countries, 67, 
58; relation of, to the world, 341-343; 
subject to no Episcopacy, 123-125; 
nor to a General Assembly, 125, 126; 
nor to an infallible Primate, 121-123; 
terms of admission to, 105; training for 
the Scriptural polity, 94-96; troubles of, 
should not be advertised, 255; true fac- 
tors of evangelization, 312, 339; union 
of, with the State, introduced force, 325; 
unity of, essential, 110, 119; worship 
essential to, 194, 195. 

Circumcision admitted to the kahal of Is- 
rael, 101 ; of the heart, 12; rite of, 8, 13. 

Civil Courts, look into constitution and 
proceedings of councils before enforc- 
ing result, 279 n. 

Civil law, churches are subject to, 324, 
325, 332-337. 

Cleavage produced by force, not liberty, 
76, 77, 266, 358. 

Clement Komanus, 70, 107, 112, 113, 118, 
126, 153, 235. 

Clerk, church, 186; duties of, 187, 191; 
qualifications, 187. 

Clubs, heathen, prepare for the church, 
36, 38. 

Coercion and reform, 266, 358, 359. 

Coleman, on independence of primitive 
churches, 126, 127. 

Comitv, church, 337-341; and creeds, 
338, 340; criterion in, 338, 340; respects 
polity, 340; rests on private judgment, 
337, .'i38; unevangelical bodies excluded 
from, 338, 340. 

Commercial aspects of churches. 342, 343. 

Committees, appointed by a church, 189, 
190. 



INDEX. 



375 



'Communicants in the Eucharist, 218-224; 
must be baptized believers, 219; and 
church members, 219; these terms con- 
firmed, 220. 

Communion, the, of churches, 38, 39, 264- 
266; of saints, 3, 5, 12, 36, 38, 39, 42, 80, 
264. 

Complaint, the, in cases of discipline, 242, 
246, 247. 

Conditions of church membership, 105,106. 

Conferences of churches (see Associa- 
tions), 295-306; district, state, and 
national, 81,82; express stated fellow- 
ship, 81; may be parties to councils, 
273, 282-284. 

Confirmation, Episcopal, by a bishop, 64, 
65; sacrament, so-called, of, 205. 

Confession, eff"ect of, on trial, 248; on 
joining a church, 215, 216, 222, 347, 348. 

Confessions, general, of Congregational- 
ists, 345, 346. 

Confusion of thought. Papacy arose 
from, 47-50. 

Congregation, not the church, 107 ; of Is- 
rael, 12, 100, 101 (see also kahal). 

Congregational churches, 83; in New 
England in 1648, 345 «; their guards to 
purity, 345-355; unity Of, 357-359. 

Congregational Puritans, 90, 326. 

Congregational Quarterly, influence of, 
307, 308. 

Congregational theory of the Christian 
Church, 79-84; the oldest, 79; secures 
unity, 82, 311 , 357-359, 375. 

Congregational Union of England and 
Wales, 307 ; creed of, 346. 

Congregationalism, abnormal develop- 
ment of, in America, 332; an "anom- 
aly," 368, 369; constitutive pi'inciple of, 
80, 372; development of, 81, 82; future 
prospects, 130, 372-375 ; historical, stud- 
ied, 22; not infallible, 84; not a narrow 
theme, 1; proof of , 83, 110-128; republi- 
can, 93 ; revolutionary, 84 ; saved in the 
West by laymen, 35i, 353, 361; shuns 
independency and authority, 79; uni- 
fying principle in, 39, 40; unity of, 357- 
359; wanting in no element, 83, 84. 

Congregationalists, distrusted their pol- 
ity, 361 ; national churches rejected by, 
90; standard of faith, 99, 345-347; who 
are, 83. 

Connecticut, ministerial standing in, 155, 
293; restraint of liberty in, 337, 338; 
Unitarianism in, 367. 

Consociationism, 86, 297, 360, 366, 367. 

Constantine and the church, 325, 337. 

Constitutive principle, defined, 40, 45, 46; 
of Congi-egationalism, 80; of Episco- 
pacy, 62; of the Papacy, 52; of Presby- 
terianism, 72. 

Cooperation among churches, 314-323; 
matters included in, 314; methods of, 
315-317; through church associations, 
317, 318; through close corporations, 
316; through voluntary contributors, 
315; through combining these, 316, 317; 
normal method, 317-:{19; advantages of 
the normal method, 321,322; obstacles 
to a return, 319-321; required, 314-317; 
primitive method, 315, 317, 318; English 
method, 318,319. 

Corinthian Church, discipline in the, 112, 
113. 



Corporation, church, 330, 331. 

Council, authority of the, of Jerusalem, 
124. 

Council of churches, a, 272; an associa- 
tion a party to, 273, 282-284; called by 
whom, 272; letters missive, 272; mem- 
bership in, 272; quorum of, 273; rights 
of members in, 272, 273. 

Councils of churches, 267-292, 327; abnor- 
mal system, 268, 269; accounted for in 
New England, 269-271; associations 
parties to, 273, 282-284; associations may 
supplant, 288, 289; called sometimes by 
the State, 270, 271 ; confounded one with 
another, 277,278; courts and, 278, 279; 
earliest, 124; duo parte, 275; ex parte, 
276; fellowship in, limited, 81,274; fi- 
nal resort, 287; functions of, limited, 81, 
273, 274; general, 124, 268; inadequate 
as safeguards, 160, 161, 178, 281, 290- 
292; installing and ordaining, 273, 290; 
kinds of, 274; Umited use of, 160, 161, 
291; ministerial discipline by, 284-287; 
mistakes by, not easily corrected, 160; 
mutual, 275, 276 ; no right of challenge, 
280; objects, 273; origin of, politico- 
ecclesiastical, 268-271; packing, 281, 
282; procedure in, 278; quorum in, 273; 
recognition, 290; result of, 278, 279, 280; 
scope of. 273, 274; size of, 274; tempo- 
rary, 279; uni parte, 275; warrant for, 
267. 

Covenant, Abrahamic, 7, 11, 12; church, 
170, 171. 

Coxe, Bishop, abolition of episcopate in 
Roman Church, 58, 69, 86; priority of 
the Greek Church, 47. 

Creed, assent to, 347, 348; importance of 
a, 106, 344; of Ceremonial Church, 14; 
of Evangelical Alliance, 237 ; of Patri- 
archal Church, 9 ; property affected by 
change of, 335, 336 ; required , 106. 

Creeds, of associations of churches, 346, 
347; of churches, 347, 348; of ethnic 
religions, 9 ?i; preserved best by laity, 
350-352; primitive norm of, 106; tests of 
membership, 347, 348, 354, 355. 

Credentials, 302; contents of, 304, 305; de- 
fined, 304. 

Cromwell, Oliver, on State, Church, and 
liberty, 90. 

Cross-examination, 252. 

Cyprian, church and the kingdom, 48; 
election of church oflicers, 172, 173; 
primacy of Peter, 122. 

Deacons, 178-181 ; authority of, what, 180; 
duties of, 178, 179; election of, 115, 178; 
laymen, 179, 226; ordination of, 180; 
origin of the oflice of, 178; qualifica- 
tions of, 179, 180; removal of, 180; rota- 
tion in office of, 180, 181. 

Deaconesses, 179, 180. 

Dead-lock between church and society, 
330-332, 360. 

Decrees, church, a standard of faith, 99. 

Dedham decision, 331, 332. 

Delegates of primitive churches, 115, 116; 
of Congregational churches, 303. 

Deposition from the ministry, 176, 287, 
288; by associations, 283, 284, 288, 289; 
by councils, 284, 287, 288; papal and 
prelatical, 287, 288; under the pastoral 
theory, 287 ; revokes ordination, 288. 



380 



INDEX. 



De Quincy, 342. 

Development, Biblical versus Vedic, 9 n; 
Congregational and ecclesiastical, 130; 
dispensations and, 30, 31; normal, of 
the kingdom, 43-45 ; religion not a mere, 
131; righteousness and, 109. 

Dexter, Dr. Henry M., 21, 157, 175, 251, 
261, 276, 282, 307. 

Diaconate, origin of the, 178. 

Disciples, baptism and Christ's, 32, 33. 

Disciphne, 229-263; associational, 163, 
164; authority of, limited, 235; whence 
derived, 234; where deposited, 233, 234; 
baptized children under what, 235; 
church officers subject to, 235, 261; com- 
plaint in, 246, 247; defects in, when of 
little weight, 232; discretion needed in, 
238-240; drift in, 232; ends of church, 
240, 241,244; evidence in, 250-252; evils 
of, restricted in Congregationalism, 357; 
excommunication in, 243. 254; final 
when, 113; first step in, when to be 
taken, 244, 245; general and special, 
230, 231; irregularities in, 256, 257; let- 
ters of dismissal and, 245, 246; jury in, 
249, 250; means of grace, 240; meetings 
of a church and, 231; ministerial, by 
associations endorsed, 161, 162; ministe- 
rial, twofold, 177, 235; mistakes in, rend 
churches, 233; oflFences demanding, 
235-238; parties protected in, 255, 256; 
pastor's province in, 248, 261; polity 
determines mode of, 231, 232; pohty 
judged by, 232; principle governing 
ministerial, 154, 175, 176, 235, 243, 261, 
262; proxv used in, when, 246; purity 
through, 238-241 ; ratified in heaven, 113 ; 
redress of grievance in, 262, 263; regu- 
lated how by the State, 334, 335; rigor 
of early, 106; rule of, 111-113- rules 
needed, 230; steps in, 241, 247; study of, 
demanded, 232, 233; subjects of, 235; 
supreme when, 113, 114; temperance and, 
239, 240; testimony in, to be preserved, 
248; uniformity in, desirable, 229; 
varies with circumstances, 239, 240; 
voters in, 257-259; witnesses in, 247. 

Discretion in discipline, 238-240; in doc- 
ti-ine and politv, 370-372. 

Dispensations, Ceremonial and Christian, 
confounded, 18, 49; bound together, 16, 
31; preparatory, sifted for the final, 19, 
20, 31, 32, 111, 114 (see kahal). 

Divisions caused by force, 76, 358, 359. 

Doctrinal, basis of' the National Council, 
346,347; of state associations, 346, 347; 
reforms and pohty, 2, 3, 18, 358, 359. 

Doctrine, meaning of the term, 43, 98; of 
the Christian Church, 3, 43, 98; one and 
not many, 43-45. 

Doctrines, the great working, 316, 351, 
352, 365. 

Donatists, 49, 325. 

Dropping church members, when, 259, 
260. 

Duo parte councils what, 275. 

Ecclesia, 36, 37, 112, 120, 121, 127, 128, 166; 
winnowed from the kahal of Israel, 32, 
111, 114, 136, 208; used for kahal, 167. 

Ecclesiastical infallibilitv, 26; rational- 
ism, 128, 129. 

Ecclesiastical society, 328-332; usurpa- 
tion of, 231, 330, 331. 



Ecumenical Association, 82; rightly bal- 
ances liberty and unity, 88, 367, 368; 
needed, 38, 82, 311. 

Elders (Presbyters) , 70, 71, 145 ; accounta- 
bility of, dual, 176, 177; appointed or 
chosen, 116, 172, 173; church officers 
when, 172; duties of, 173, 174; member- 
ship of, dual, 174, 175; pluralitv of , in 
primitive churches, 70, 71, 169, 170, 173; 
presiding officers, 175; removed by 
Corinthian church, 176; synagogues- 
elected elders, 117, 118. 

Efficiency, church, of Baptists, 359, 362; 
of Congregationalists 359-363; objects 
of true, 363; unites wisdom and re- 
sources, 363. 

Election of an apostle, 114, 115; of dea- 
cons, 115; of delegates, 115, 116; elders, 
116; primitive churches and the, of 
officers, 114-116, 172, 173; removed from 
office, 176. 

Emmons, dictum of Dr. Nathaniel, 86. 

Encyclopzedia Britannica, democracy and 
autonomy of the primitive churches, 
127, 142; hearsay evidence, 251, 252; 
identity of elders, pastors, and bishops,. 
146; infallibility of Greek Church, 52; 
invisible and visible church, 4; prior- 
ity of Greek Church, 47; rise of jEpis- 
copacy, 61, 63, 65; tradition in Anglican 
Church, 66. 

English Congregational societies, 318,. 
319. 

Environment, 51, 239, 267, 368, 369. 

Episcopal, convocations, 64; jurisdiction, 
64; orders in the ministry, 64. 

Episcopacy, 59-69, 123-125; aggressive 
and exclusive, 68 ; constitutive principle 
of, 62, 63 ; development of, 64, 65 ; forms 
of, 65-67; older than the Papacy, 59; 
origin of, 59-62; proof of. 63, 64; re- 
formable, 68; undeveloped, 59, 68, 69; 
unifjnng principle of, 40. 

Episcopate, churches not subject to an, 
123-12.5. 

Eucharist, the, early communicants in,. 
107, 108, 220, 221 ; not a sacrifice, 54, 133, 
134. 

Europe, progi-ess of liberty in, 89, 90,. 
373. 

Evangelical churches and comity, 338-340. 

Evangehcal Alliance, creed of, 237. 

" Evangelists," 144, 145. 

Evangelization, cooperation of churches- 
in, 314-317. 

Evidence, admissibiUty of, 250-252; hear- 
say, 251, 252. 

Evolution, ecclesiastical, 11, 31-33, 94-96. 

Examination, of ministers, 353; value of 
cross-, 252. 

Excommunicate, how to restore an, 254^ 
255. 

Excommunication, 243, 254; final, 243; 
of ministers, 286, 287; redress in, 262,. 
263 ; synagogue, 102. 

Ex parte councils, 276. 

Expulsion from associations and stand- 
ing, 163, 164, 283, 301-304. 

Extreme unction, so-called sacrament of, 
206. 

Faith, standards of, in Christendom, 98, 

99. 
Family form of the Church, 6-11; at- 



INDEX. 



381 



tempted return to, 17; lacked fellow- 
ship, 11. 

Familv, the, honored in all dispensations, 
6, 15^ 83. 

Fan, Christ's winnowing, 32, 109, 111, 114, 
136, 2US. 

Feet-washing, ritB of, among the Men- 
nonites, 205, 2C>6. 

Fellowship of churches, 38, 39, 264-267; 
basis of, 10.^;, 264; channel of blessings, 
36,37, 266, 267; councils inadequate to 
express, 61, 274; definition of, 264; de- 
void of authority, 266, 267, 364; essen- 
tial, 37, 38, 265; exhibited on four prin- 
cipleSj 40,265; expressed in Congrega- 
tionalism, 81-83, o5S, 359; impossible 
where, 340, 341; libertv in, 266, 267; Um- 
itation of, a38-341 : methods of, 267; 
peculiar to no polity, 80, 81, 2J5, 266; 
prime factors in, 39;" unites all believ- 
ers, 38; unity sought in, 40; vehicle of 
oppression, 266; visible, required, 265; 
withholding, fi-om ministers, l.->5. 

Felt, J. B., Eccl. Hist., quoted, 153, 156, 
1.57, 297. 

Fiction, papal, of imprisonment, 58. 

Fisher, Prof. Geo.P.,'"D.u., on good done 
by the Papacv, 95; on Lord's Supper, 
218. 

Force, ecclesiastical, divisive, 76, 266, 
267, 358, 359, 364. 

Foreign missions, cooperation in, 314, 
323; when begun, 322. 

Form essential to organic life, 2, 30, 371. 

Francis I., Calvin wrote Ms institutes 
for, 18. 

Froude, J. A., on the Puritans, 89. 

Future, the, belongs to the primitive pol- 
ity, 130, 372-375. 

General Assembly, 74; powers of, 74; 
churches not subjected to a, 125, 126. 

General Councils, State gave authority 
to, 64, 325, 337; Congregational, 307. 

General Court of Massachusetts, an ec- 
clesiastical body, 296, 297. 

General Courts of New England, ecclesi- 
astical, 1.56; relation to "councils, 269- 
271. 

Gladstone, Hon. Wm. E., the Papacy, 58. 

Gospel of the kingdom, 23; an auomalv, 
369. 

Greek Church, 65, 66; older than the 
papal, 47, 59; standard of faith, 99. 

Guards of purity complete in Congrega- 
tionalism, 344-355. 

Hanbury's Memorials, 21, 181, 2':8, 298, 327. 

Harris, Prof. George, d.d., unit of soci- 
ety, C. 

Harris, Prof . Samuel, d.d., definition of 
the Church, 5. 

Harvey, Prof. H., D D., ordination by 
ministers, 152 ; relation of politv to her- 
esy, 2, 3. 

Hatch, Vice-Prin. Edwin, equality within 
churches, 172; identity of elders and 
bishops, 61 ; indejiendence of local 
churches, 127; ordination, ]51, 152; pol- 
ity of the future. 96, 273, 372, 375. 

Head? of A.srreement, 346. 

Hearsay evidence, 251, 252. 

Heresie's, earlv, began in changes of pol- 
ity, 2, 3. 



Heresy, disciplinable, 237; liberty hin- 
ders, 350, 351; ways of dealing with, 
353, 354. 

High Priest, Christ the Christian's, 132, 

133. 
Hitchcock, Prof. R. D., d.d., 183, 184, 185. 

Homburg, synod of, 91. 
, Home Missions, cooperation in, 314, 
Hooker, Richard, 185. 
Hume, the Puritans, 89. 
Hutchinson, early use of councils in 

Massachusetts, 327, 32S. 
Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. on duties of 

ruling elders, ISl, 182; ordination, 1.53; 

polity derived from Pilgrim Church, 

227, 228; strength of churches in civil 
I power. 327, 328. 

' Ignatius, 48, 60, 71, 126, 180. 

Imprisonment, papal fiction of, 58. 

Inalienable right of churches in anv 
locahty, 158,160, 16'3, 1(>4, 28"), 286, 29;)" 
j expres'sed in associations, 2.S5, 286; im 
! perfectlv guarded in councils, 299, 3O0 
I should be respected, 303, 304; when in- 
I fringed upon, 299, 300. 

Inauguration of pastors, 177, 178. 
I Incorporation of churches, 330, 331. 

Indelible character and ordination, 136, 
151, 152. 

Independence of local churches, SO, 110- 
119; arises from unitv, 110, 111; con- 
ceded, 126-12>; hated, 34u; proof of, 110; 
by the rule of discipline, 111-114; by 
tlie election of clfirers, 114-116 ; by their 
relat'-on one to another, 116, 117; by their 
relation to the synagogues, 117, 1*18; by 
statements of the Apostolic Fathers, 
118, 119. 

Indepemlent churches, guards of purity 
in, ;d4.5-3.5.5; modeled after clubs and 
svnagogues, 34-;36. 38, 198, r.i9; power 
of, 300; property of, 335, 336; subject 
to no centralized authority, 119-126, 
whether Pope, 121-123, or Episcopate, 
123-125, or General Assembly, 125, 126; 
this point conceded, 126-130. 

Independents, Congregationalists in Eng- 
land called, 83. 

Individuals not factors in common labors, 
126, 322, 323. 

Indulgences, 54. 

Inequality in representation, dangerous, 
298, 299. 

Infallibility, papal, 26; dogma of, 51,52; 
when decreed, .52, 53; of the Greek 
Church, 52; of the kingdom of heaven, 
26; of the Popes, 51, .52; ecclesiastical, 26. 

Infallible Primacy, active and passive, 
53; constitutive principle of the Roman 
Church, .52; churches not subject to, 121- 
123. 

Infant baptism, 108, 211-216, Congrega- 
tionalists and, 215; reformed churches 
and, 214; when corrupts a church, 214. 

Infant damnation, 227. 

Injustice in censures, remedied, 260, 262, 
276. 

Inner Light, standard of faith, 99. 

Installation, 290; decadence of, 160, 291; 
elements in, 2;X): inadequate guards, 
160, 29:t-292 ; unessential to the pasto- 
rate, 177, 178; ursrencv of its advocates, 
291. 



382 



INDEX. 



Intemperance and church discipline, 239, 
240. 

Invisible Church or visible, Christendom 
divided over, 4. 

Invitation to the Eucharist, 224, 225. 

Ireland, Presbyterian churches in, expur- 
gated heresy, 350, 351. 

Irenseus confounded church and king- 
dom, 48. 

Irregularities in procedure, 256, 257, 276. 

Isolation of churches, abnormal, 38-40, 
264, 265. 

Jeroboam, how caused Israel to sin, 13, 14. 

Jerusalem, council at, 124, 139. 

Jewish Christians and independent syna- 
gogues, 118. 

Johnson's •• Wonder Working Provi- 
dence," 358, 359, 373. 

Jurisdiction, ecclesiastical courts deter- 
mine their own, 278; lawful, in Episco- 
pacy, 64. 

Jury trial of offences, demanded in 
churchfs, 249, 250, 357. 

Justin, Martyr, lu7, 108, 221. 

Kahal, or ♦' congregation of Israel," 12, 
32, 100, 111, 114, 115, 119, 120, 121, 128, 136, 
167; became the Christian ecclesia or 
Church, 111, 112, 114, 115, 120, 121, 128, 
167, 208; oneness of the, 119, 120; rehn- 
quished authority in becoming Chris- 
tian, 128. 

Keys of the kingdom, where deposited, 
113,114. 

Kingdom of heaven, the, 22-30; appears 
chiefly in churches, 36; characteristics 
of, 24-28; Christward side of the 
Church, 103; conditions of admission 
to, 28; confounded with the church, 28, 
29; Congregationalists and, 21 n; con- 
stantly coming, 30; contrasted with 
Ceremonial Law, 33; also with previ- 
ous dispensations, 23, 24; defined, 24, 
27,28; distinguished from the Church, 
28, 29, 103, 166, emerges in local 
churches, 42, 43; equality in, 27; estab- 
lished already, 22-24; everlasting, 27; 
evolved from preceding dispensations, 
30, 31; foundation of the Christian 
Church, 21; gives place to "church," 
and "churches," 42, 43; gospel of, 23; 
holiness of, 25; indivisible, 25; infalli- 
ble, 26; invisible, 25, 26; loyalty to 
Christ in, 24,25; manifested in organic 
forms, 30, 36, 38; materials of, 31, 32, 
102; misumlerstood by the Jews, 31; 
reign of Christ ir), 24; notes of, 24-28; 
partly on earth and partly in heaven, 
29; peculiar, 27, 28; preached, 23; pre- 
dicted, 22, 23; separated from the State, 
120, 121, 324, 325, 332; subjects equal, 27; 
synagogue worship appropriated by, 
35,36; term, how used by the apostles, 
42, 43; unity of, 25, 38; universal, 27; 
writers on Congregationalism neglect, 
21 n. 

Ladd, Prof. G. T., d.d., doctrine and 
" polity, 3; democracy to the front, 374; 
examination for ordination, 353; mis- 
taken policy, 352; provincialism sui- 
cidal, 361. 
Laity, custodians of faith and polity, 



350-353; distinguished from the minis- 
try, 134-136; saved Congregationalism 
in the West, 352, 353, 361. 

Laud, Archbishop, the Puritans, 90. 

Lawrence, Judge Wm., alienation of 
church property, 335, 336. 

Lawyers in ecclesiastical trials, 252-254 ; 
rules respecting, 253. 

Lay Eldership, Presbyterian, 181-185; 
duties of, 181, 182; unscriptural, 182, 
183; being rejected by Presbyterians, 
183, 184; Presbyterianism then reduced 
to a clerical despotism, 184. 

Leadership, personal, escaped, 365. 

Legal, counsel in trials, 252-254; elements 
in installation, 290; obstacles to church 
cooperation, 319, 320; relations of 
churches, 32.3-337 ; rules of evidence and 
ecclesiastical trials, 251, 252. 

Legislation, all ecclesiastical, vests in 
Christ, 24, 25. 

Letters, of dismission and discipline, 245, 
246; missive, 272. 

Liberty, associations and, 82, 266, 267; 
called " the insanity," 54, 88; Consocia- 
tionism and, 366, 367; endangered by 
nersonal leaders, 365; politv and, 18, 
19, 82, 8&-93; progress of, 8"8-93, 373; 
Puritans and, 88-90; relation of, to 
unity, 266, 267, 367; union of Church 
and State destroys, 296, 330-332; unitv 
and, balanced, 295, 296, 367, 368. 

Licentiates, 226. 

Life manifests itself in organisms, 2, 30, 
371. 

Lines, narrow, separate polities, 41; also 
visible from invisible Church, 4. 

Liturgies, early, 201 ; independent of pol- 
ity, 204; New Testament and, 197-203; 
sermon versus, 202 ; value of, 202-204. 

Local churches, powers of, 80, 81, 111-119, 
312, 322, 323. 

Lord's Supper, the, 216-228; administered 
by whom, 225-228; botli kinds in, 218; 
communicants, 218-224; conditions of 
partaking, 218, 219; must be Scriptural, 
222-224 ; enforced by local churches, 224, 
225; Boston Platform and, 222; disci- 
pUne and, 221, 222; elements used in, 
217, 218; invitation to, 224; not con- 
trolled by the pastor, 225; Judas Is- 
cariot and, 220; meaning of, 217; mode 
of, 218; names of, 217; primitive 
churches and, 220, 221 ; repeated often, 
217; supersedes the passover, 14, 217, 
220; unrestricted admission to, fatal, 
222, 224. 

Lord's Table, like the Church, 224. 

Lutherans, ConsiTCgational in uolity, 83; 
standard of faith, 99. 

Luther's, Martin, idea of the Church, 
326. 

Macaulay, Lord, the Papacy, 46; the 

Puritans, 89. 
Mackenzie, progress of liberty in Europe, 

89,90,373,374. 
Majority, discipline by, in primitive 

churches, 112, 113; what such a vote is, 

259. 
Marriage, so-called sacrament of, 205. 
Mass, ht'ld to be a literal sacrifice, 54, 133, 

134, 227. 
Massachusetts Colony, called councils, 



INDEX. 



383 



"570, 271 ; ordination and preaching and, 
156; regulated the churches, 156, 327, 
328. 

Materials, of a church, what, 100; of the 
Ceremonial Church, 100, 101; of the 
Christian Church, 103, 104; of churches, 
104-108; of the kingdom of heaven, 102, 
103; of the Patriarchal Church, 100; of 
synagogues, 101, 102; unity of, in all 
dispensations, 109. 

Matthew 16: 18, 19, interpretations of, 
122, 123. 

-Matthias, how chosen an apostle, 114, 
115, 139,141. 

Mediators, priests are, 132. 

-Members of churches, on dropping, 259, 
260; equality of, 171, 172; tested by 
what, 104-108, 222, 347, 348. 

Messengers of the primitive churches, 
115, 116. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, the, polity 
of, changing, 76, 77; Presbyterian, es- 
sentially, 76: property and pulpit of, 
336; rejected by Episcopacy, 65. 

Methodists, standard of faith, 99. 

Metropolitan bishops, 61. 

Michigan, general association of, defines 
ministerial standing, 156; constitution 
of, and ministerial standing, .305. 

Milman, Dean, on primitive churches, 
126. 

Ministerial accountability, 154, 155, 284- 
287. 

Ministerial associations, 292-295, 365; lib- 
erty and, 295, 365, 366; objects of, 293; 
origin of, 292, 293; standing in, 293, 294; 
tempi >rary in nature, 294, 295. 

Ministerial membership and pastoral 
representation, 302, 303; where held, 
174, 175. 

Ministerial discipline, 177, 235, 284-2S8. 

Ministerial standing, 154-165; associations 
of churches and, 1.58, 160, 161, 282, 286; 
defined, 155, 156; in England, 305; minis- 
terial associations and, 159, 294; Nation- 
al Council on, 161, 162; New England 
and, 157 ; redress when, is impaired, 163, 
164,282, 28;^ ; required to beheld some- 
where, 155, 163-165; single and unasso- 
ciated churches can not hold, 157, 158, 
159. 

Ministerial training, 314. 

Ministers, guides, 191, 192; membership 
of, dual, 174, 175; responsibility of, 
dual, 175-177; removal of, 190. 

Ministrv of the Word, the, 131-149; called 
of God, 131, 132, 135; as custodians of 
doctrine and polity, 850-353; distin- 
guished from the laity, 136; function of, 
132, 133, 134-136, 190; independent of 
the churches, 136, 137; not exclusive, 
135; not an ofiicial relation, 131, 137; 
not a priesthood, 132-134 ; ordina- 
tion of, 149-1.54; parity of, 137; pastoral 
theory of, 131 ; permanent, 138, 143-147; 
perpetual, 149, 150; precedes churchefe, 
131, 136; prelatical, un scriptural, 137; 
preparation for, 148; qualifications of, 
147-149; restrictions of, in New Eng- 
land colonies, 156 ; temporary, 138-143. 

Minors not voters, 257, 258. 

MistJikes, discipline and, 233; when vital, 
257. 

Mitchell, Rev. John, membership of min- 



isters, 174; standing in ministerial asso- 
ciations, 294. 

Moderatism in Scotland, 349, 351, 354. 

Moffat, Prof. J. C, D.D., primitive re- 
ligions, 9, 10. 

Moravian Church, 67. 

Morris Prof. E. D., d.d. Apostolic suc- 
cession, 142; proof of Presbyterianism, 
75; lay eldership, 183; primitive type, 
368, 369, 370. 

Mosheim, primitive churches, 126; wor- 
ship after conversion of Constantino, 
201. 

Miiller, Prof. Max, relation of religion 
to history, 2. 

Mutual councils, 275, 276, 283, 304. 

Nation, The (New York), political creeds, 
344. 

National Church, intolerable, 15, 16; re- 
turn to, perversive, 18. 

National Council, doctrinal basis, 346, 
347; origin of, .306-311; recognizes min- 
isterial standing, 161, 162, 305; stated 
body, 309, 310. 

Neander, parity of church members, 172; 
visible and invisible Church, 49; Nova- 
tian, 238. 

New England, Church and State united 
in, 327, 328; effect on Congregational- 
ism, 3:^2; peculiar, 328. 

Noah renews a godly seed, 7. 

" No liishop, no king," 88, 89, 374. 

Notice in cases of discipline, 247. 

Oath for witnesses, 248 n. 

Objections, force of, 355-357; tests, 356, 
357. 

Offences, disciplinable, 235-238; scandal- 
ous, 237, 238, 244, 249. 

Officers, church, authority of, 190-193; 
no veto power, 190, 191 ; removal of, 190. 

Offices, distribution of, among members, 
192, 193. 

Ohio General Association and National 
Council, 309. 

Orders, the so-called sacrament of, 205. 

Ordination, 149-154; Ceremonial, 132; 
Christian, 137, 150; authority conferred 
by, 153, 154; deposition and, 176, 289; 
ecclesiastical recognition in, 152, 153; 
Episcopal, 64; modes of, 151; per- 
formed by associations of churches, 
288, 289, 306; by churches, 152; by coun- 
cils, 273; relations caused by, 154, 155; 
Scriptural, 150, 151. 

Original, the, polity, the final polity, 96, 
37^-375. 

" Out of the church there is no salvation," 
48, 49, 171. 

Palfrey, churches as towns, 91. 

Pan Anglican Conferences abnormal, 68. 

Papacy, the, 46-59; an absolute mon- 
archy, .54; absorbed the Episcopate, .59; 
Augustine might have strangled, 49; 
clerical government wholly, 54, 55; con- 
stitutive principle of, 52; good fruits 
of, 95; irreformable, 56; liberty denied 
by, 53, .54, 57 ; temporal power must be 
recovered, 57, 58; visible and invisible 
Church confused in, 49, 50. 

Papal Infallibility, 51, 52; when located, 
53. 



384 



INDEX. 



Papal theory of the Church, 51 ; alterna- 
tive of victory or death, 56, 67 ; cleav- 
age fatal to, 56 ; comprehension of, 59 ; 
development of, 53, 54; environment of, 
51; grandeur of, 46; irreformable, 56; 
matured when, 52; origin of, 47-50; 
power of, 56; primacy in, 50, 52; un- 
assailable by argument, 56; vitality of, 
56. 

Parliamentary rules, binding, 191 ; coun- 
cils and, 278; pastors and, 230. 

Parish system, 828-332; churches in 
bondage to, 330-332; church property 
and, 330; efficiency hindered by, 360; 
influence on faith, 349; legal existence 
of churches in, 331, 332; origiii of, 328- 
330; strifes and remedies under, 329, 
330; unscriptural, 332; voters in, 329- 
331. 

Parity in the laity, 171, 172; in the min- 
istry, 137. 

Passover, Jewish, 14; communicants at, 
220. 

Pastoral representation, 303. 

Pastoral theory of the ministry, 131. 

Pastorate, the, essential elements of, 177, 
17»; National Council and, 161, 162. 

Pastors, 145, 146; churches may ordain 
their own, 153, 177; councils unneces- 
sary to constitute, 177, 178; discipline 
of, lo9, 261-263; impartiality required 
in, 261; more than cnurch officers, 177; 
presiding officers, 175, 230, 248, 261; 
should not attend certain church meet- 
ings, 175, 230; when representatives of 
churches, 303. 

Patriarchal Dispensation, 6-11; creed of , 
8, 9; degeneracy of piety under. 7, 9, 
10; divisive, 9: initiatory rite intro- 
duced into, 8; purity of, 10; worship 
of, 8. 

Patriarchal theory of society, 6. 

Penance, so-called sacrament of, 205. 

Pentecost, Christian Church inaugurated 
on. 111 ; converts at, 169. 

People, best guardians of faith and pol- 
ity, 350-353. 

Permanent ministry, 143-149; lists of, 
144; names of, 144. 

Peter, St., called to account, 114, 176; 
primacy of, 121-123. 

Phelps, Prof. Austin, D.D., necessity of 
creeds, 344. 

"Pilgrim convention" of 1870, and the 
National Council, 308. 

•' Plan of the Apostles, the," 128, 130, 340, 
3a3, 3n9, 372. 

Plan of Union. 352, 360, 361. 

Pluralitv of elders in churches, 70, 71, 
169, 170, 173. 

Political elements in the Ceremonial 
Law, 128. 

Polities, ecumenical, 87, 88; exclusive, 
85-S7; oriu^in honorable, 39-41; timple, 
four, 40, 84, 85; imion labors and, 93, 
94, 339, 3(;2 ; utility of, 94-96. 

Polity, church activities determined by, 
93, 94; covers the revelation of redemp- 
tion,! ; development in, 94, 95 ; not discre- 
tionary, 370-372; essential, 371; involved 
in every church act, 94; liberty and, 
18, 19, 8,s-93; not detjiiled in New Testa- 
ment, 44, 45; obedience to, required, 
372; principles of the true, revealed, 



43-45, 129, 372; relation ot to civil gov- 
ernment, 18, 19, 88-93; study of, needed, 
1, 2, 3, 18-20; theology molded by, 2, 3, 

Polycarp, 71, 118, 126, 180. 

Prayer, Book of Common, conflicting 
elements in , 66. 

Preaching, open to laymen, 135; right of, 
found in Christ's call, 137. 

Prelate, 137. 

Presbyterian Alliance abnormal, 74, 75. 

Presbyterian Churches, number of, 76. 

Presbyterian Puritans, 90, 3'26. 

Presbyterian, theory of the Church, 70- 
79. 

Presbyterianism, 70-79; adjusted easily 
to new light, 129, 130 ; constitutive prin- 
ciple of, 72; abandoned where, 74, 75; 
development of, into sessions, 72; pres- 
byteries. 73; synods, 73; general as- 
semblies, 74; and the Presbyterian 
Alliance, 74; infallibility not claimed 
by, 78; lay eldership not essential to, 
77,78; not republican, 91-93; originated 
in a wrong interpretation, 71, 183, 184; 
principle of unity iu, 40, 72; proof 
alleged for, 75, 76; reformable, 78; 
representatives mav be laymen, 72; 
yielding to the light,' 74, 78, 129, 130. 

Presbyterians favored a national church, 
90; standard of faith, 74, 99. 

Presbyteries, 73; powers of,7S. 

Presbytery in particular churches, 60, 70, 
71, 76, 125, 173, 185. 

Proselytes, 102. 

Priesthood, the Aaronic, 13, 132; Christ's, 
132,133; Christian ministry not a, 132- 
134; Patriarchal, 8; Roman Catholic, 
134, 135; Greek Church, 134. 

Priests, what, 132; ministers not, 132-134. 

Primacy, infallible, 52. 

Primacy of St. Peter, 50, 51, 122, 123. 

Primitive churches, discipline of, 232; 
worship of, 199-201. 

Primitive religions, 10. 

Principle, domination of, in polity, 40, 45, 
46, 128. 

Private judgment, comer-stone of liberty, 
18, 337, 338. 

Proof, liberty of, in ecclesiastical trials, 
251. 

Property, church, regulated by civil law, 
333; alienation of, 335-337. 

Prophets, New Testament, 142, 143; Old 
Testament, 13, 14, 142; priests of Israel 
not, 13 ; school of the, 14. 

Protestant Episcopal Church, 67. 

Proxy, discipline by, when, 246. 

Public discipline not necessary, 249, 250, 
357. 

Purgatory, papal, 54. 

Puritan Reformation, a theory of the 
Church, 326, 327. 

Puritans, Congregational and Presbyte- 
rian, 90, 326; influence in civil govern- 
ments, 18. 19, 88-91. 

Purity, inability to attain, no objection, 
108; ministerial, tested by examina- 
tions, 353 ; Patriarchal Dispensation did 
not favor, 10. 

Quakers, ministry rejected by, 134; sacra, 
ments and, 206, 207; standard of faith, 



INDEX. 



385 



Queen Elizabeth, tuning pulpits, 327. 
Quorum in councils, 273. 

Rationalism, ecclesiastical, 128, 129, 185. 

Reason, a standard of faith with whom, 
99. 

Reciprocal relation of polity and life, 2, 
30. 

Recognition, councils of, 290. 

Records, church, 186. 187; of trials, 248. 

Redress of grievances, 262, 263. 

Reformation, the great, effect on worship, 
201, 202; partial return to primitive pol- 
ity, 326, 327; sprung from a theory of 
the Church, 3, 18, 19. 

Reformed Episcopal Church, 67. 

Reformers depended on the State, 326, 
327. 

Reforms, religions, saved by ecclesiasti- 
cal, 18, 19, 354. 

Relation of Church and State, 323-328; 
true, 332-336. 

Religion, history molded by, 2; moral- 
ity and heathen, 342 ; revealed, requires 
a called ministry, 131 ; State may teach, 
when, 333, 334; studied in organic man- 
ifestations, 2, 38-40. 

ReUgions, primitive, one in origin, 9, 10. 

ReUgious liberty denied by the Papacy, 
57; called " the insanity," 88. 

Representation of chiu-ches equal, why, 
298, 299; pastoral, 302, 303. 

RepubUcan, the polity most, 91-93. 

Resolutions of National Council on minis- 
terial standing, 158, 161, 162, 285. 

Result of councils, 278, 279; advisory, 
279; divisible, 280; validity in civil 
courts, 278, 279. 

Ritual, Jewish, 13, 14, 198, 199; none in 
New Testament, 197; value of, 202-204. 

Robinson, John, on sealing ordinances, 
227. 

" Rock," meaning of, in Matt. 16: 18, 122, 
123. 

Roman Catholic Church, 46-59; laity have 
no voice in, 54; reformable when, 58, 
59; standard of faith, 99; visible Church, 
4; no salvation out of the, 29, 48. 

Rule of discipline, 111,229-263; meaning 
of "church" in, 111-114; steps in, 241- 
243. 

Rulers, in churches, 146; in Israel, how 
chosen, 13. 

Ruling elders, 181-184; duties of, 181, 
182; government by, 72, 73, 184, 185; 
laymen or ministers, 181-183, 22G. 

Ruling eldership, discredits the diaco- 
nate, 185; lav, being rejected, 183, 184; 
theories of, 181; imessential, 72. 

Sabbath, 8, 15, 17, 33, 334. 

Sacraments, the, 205-207; administered 
by whom, 2-2.5-228; laymen may admin- 
ister when, 226-228; nature of, 206, 207; 
number of, 205; Quaker view of, 206, 
207; validity of, 226, 227. 

Sacrifices, eucharistic and expiatory, 7, 
8. 

Safeguards of purity, 290-292, 305, 306, 
344-348; complete, 354, 355. 

Saints, Une of, 7; separation of, under 
the three dispensations, 10, 11, 12, 15, 
104, 107, 109. 

Salvation, no, out of the Church, 29, 48. 



Savoy Declaration, 345, 346. 

Saybrook Platform, 297, 360, 366; synods 
366. 

Scandalous offences, 237, 238, 244, 249. 

Schaff, Philip, d.d., ll.d., elders and 
bishops the same, 145, 174; liturgy, 197, 
200; mode of baptism, 210; proselytes, 
102; ruling elders, 183; separation of 
beUevers from synagogues, 168; syna- 
gogues modes of churches, 34, 35, 118, 
135, 198, 199. 

Schism, under the Papacy the greatest 
sin, 54. 

Schools, state, the State may teach reli- 
gion in, when, 333, 334. 

Scott, Prof. H. M., primitive churches,. 
127, 128. 

Scriptures supplemented, 33, 99. 

Seceders forfeit all rights, 336. 

Separation of Church and State re- 
quired, 324, 325. 

Sermon, place of the, in worship, 202. 

Session, Presbvterian, 72; powers of , 72» 
73. 

Societies, ecclesiastical or parishes (see 
Parish), 328-332. 

Socinians, standard of faith, 98, 99. 

Speuce, Canon, Apostolic succession, 142. 

Standards of faith, various, 98, 99. 

Standing, expulsion from, 163, 164, 286, 
289. 

Stanley, Dean, liturgy, 203; modes of or- 
dination, 151; prophets, 14; relation of 
the Papal to the Greek Church, 47. 

State, independent of the Church, 332; 
not irreligious, 332; regxilates worship, 
334; and property, 333-336. 

Stone, Rev. Samuel, 192, 193. 

Subjection, no, of one church to another, 
117; or to others, 119-126. 

" Substance of doctrine," meaning of, 
345 n. 

Sunday-school, 190, 312, 313; superintend- 
ent of, 190; Pilgrim Church and, 313. 

Sword, the papal Church, claim use of, 
57. 

Syllabus, papal, of errors, 51, 57. 

Synagogue discipline and Matt. 18: 15- 
18,112. 

Synagogue worship, 35, 198, 199; con- 
ducted by laymen, 35, 76; Congrega- 
tional, 35; model of the Christian wor- 
ship, 34-36, 198, 199; origin of, 16, 34; 
ritual in, 198, 199, 203; sanctioned by 
Christ, 35; supplemented the Mosaic, 
16; universal in form, 34-36. 

Synagogues, developed from a want, 16; 
elected officers, 35; independent, 35, 
117, 118, 120, 369; Christians separated 
fi-om, 37, 167; members of, 101, 102; 
origin of, 16, 34; rulers of, 35; spread 
of, 34, 35. 

Synods, early, 124; authority of, 125, 268, 
325; Presbyterian, 73. 

Taxation, church property and, 333. 
" Teachers," 144; layman may be, 135. 
" Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," 

the, 107, 124, 141, 142, 143, 173, 176, 178, 

209, 217, 220, 221, 313. 
Temporal power of the Pope, 57; must 

be recovered, 58. 
Tertullian, 122, 183, 212, 226. 
Theories of the Christian Church, 40, 41 ; 



386 



INDEX. 



Congregational, 79; Episcopal, 62; 
Papal, 51; Presbyterian, 71, 72; each 
eciunenical, 87, 88; efforts after the 
true, 43-45; influence on doctrine, 2, 3, 
50; and practice, 50; mutually exclu- 
sive, 85-87; number of simple, 40, 45, 
84, 85; subtility of, calls for charity, 94, 
95; working out the truth, 94-96. 

Third way, the, of communion, 159. 

Thurston, Eev. R. B., and the National 
Council, 308. 

1 Tim. 5 : 17 explained, 183, 184. 

Town church in New Egland, 91,328-330. 

Tradition, a standard of faith, 99. 

Training, cooperation in ministerial, 314. 

Treasurer, church, 187-189; permanent 
officer, 188 ; qualifications of, 188. 

Treasurer, society or parish, 189. 

Trials, ecclesiastical, 247-250; impartial- 
ity in, 248, 249; limitation of associa- 
tional members in, 163; result how de- 
termined, 248, 250. 

Tridentine council, 121, 145; abolished 
the order of bishops, 58, 59, 86. 

Trinity Church catechism, 62, 63, 213 n. 

Troubles, church, advertising, 355; force 
of, 355, 356 ; restriction of, 357. 

Un evangelical bodies and comity, 338, 
340, 341. 

Union churches, 87, 339; trend in, 339, 
340. 

Union, committee of, in New England, 
307. 

Union efforts end in denominational re- 
sults, 339, 362; hinder efficiency, 359, 
360. 

Union of Church and State, Constantine 
and, 325, 326, 337; hinders efficiency, 
360; introduced force, 325; pecuUarity 
of, in New England, 328. 

Union societies and seceders, 336. 

Uni parte councils, 275. 

Unitarian, apostasy in Europe and New 
England, 348-350, 353, 354; Arlington, 
church, 222 ; stayed in Ireland, 350, 351. 

United Colonies of new England, 306. 

Unity of churches, attempted, 40, 87, 88; 
CongregationaUsm and, 266, 267, 357- 
359; force can not produce, 266, 267, 
358, 359, 364; independency rests on, 
110, 111; plurality can not express the, 
43-45; rightly balanced by liberty, 367, 
368; sought by all, 40, 110, 119. 

Unity of the Ceremonial Dispensation, 
15. 

Universe, plan of the, one, not many, 
43,44. 

Upham, Prof., on membership of minis- 
ters, 174; on presiding pastors, 175. 



Usage, force of, 279, 280. 

Vatican council, 52, 53, 57, 58, 121. 

Veda, religion of the, 9 n. 

Vermont, supreme court of, on duties of 

associations, 161; on ministerial stand- 

ing, 155, 294. 
Veto, no power of, 190, 191. 
Voluntary societies, 315-317; churches 

are not, 171 ; property of, 336. 
Vote, when pastors may break a tie, 175; 

validity of a, when majority refrain 

from voting, 259. 
Votes, devoid of authority, 364, 365; 

in early synods, 125. 
Voters, church, 257-259; disqualified 

when, 259; minors not, 257, 258; rule 

defining, needed, 257. 
Voters in New England colonies, 269. 

Waddington, on primitive churches, 126. 

Westminster confession, 345, 346. 

Whately, Archbishop, apostolic succes- 
sion, 63; primitive churches, 126; "the 
plan of the Apostles," 128. 

Wine, gift of, to Cambridge synod, 239. 

Winer on the ministerial function, 134, 
135; on Sacraments, 205, 207, 218, 225, 
226. 

Wisdom, denominational, how shown, 
361, 362. 

Wiseman, Cardinal, on constitutive prin- 
ciple, 46, 52. 

Witnesses, church can not compel, 251, 
252; protected by civil law, 255, 256; 
should be sworn, 248. 

Women, when voters, 258, 259. 

World, relation of churches to the, 341- 
343. 

Worship, Christian, 194-204; conception 
of, 202; description of early, 199-201; 
early liturgies in, 201; elements of, 195; 
ends of, 196; essential to a church, 194; 
form of, unfixed, 197, 198; laymen may 
conduct, 199; liberty in, 198; model of, 
198; nature of, 196, 197; perversion of, 
under Constantine, 201; perverted by 
exaltation of preachers, 202; protected, 
334; reformation changed, 201, 202; 
social, largely, 194, 195; State may con- 
trol, 334; variety in, 202-204. 

Worship, eucharistic and expiatory, 
when begun, 7. 

Worship, synagogue, model of the Chris- 
tian, 198, 199. 

Year books, and expelled ministers, 303, 
304; ministerial standing and, 305. 

Zwlngle, on nature of the Church, 326. 



33 50 







^ .1-. ^ 






.^^. 












O^ "o , » • A 



C«\' 



.HO*. 






^^ 0«1«* 



^o. 










,v r. • ^ _ "^^ .<:i^" ..-'_*♦; "V^ " ' ^^<>''' .1^1^"%/ * * ' cP^\: " ' * 






.40^ 



lOv: 



r-^^. * 






4- '^ ^''^ 







r.-,/v- 




6. *r;^'' .,0^ ** ^♦Tr..* .«■«■' 



4^ 



.0' •IV- > 



'J ^^^\ \^K*' /x'^'^^K^ '^^^^'^^^ \^^*^ ^^'"'^^, 






.* A 



<^ *'...* <6' 



^ "«,.* .A, <. ♦/TVi* <0 



.^ . «. ' . 



• " « 






-. •t.o^ 



^H°^ 



V-^' 

^•../^ 



-.♦ ** "^ • 



"^a>^'^ 



I « >i*5 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proces 



p^* C/^ «5>» • ^^ * . ^ j>. *4^^?F*^* >^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

• *0 ^ •©•» /> <> '•♦• 4O Treatment Date: April 2006 

c" ^♦>jj^,\ ^ /|j'*' ***^^^» "v. ^ ♦W PreservationTechnologie.' 

v> %^K^Y^^l^* Q> V* " <y\r!^nilk^ * \«tk Q V * j^BS A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO 



«J6 



• i^-^*. V 



> .<-' 



«>, '♦r«^,- ^0 -^^ -^^^f** .*^ o> % 



1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



9^. -'.- 






>^ • . , . 



A^ o«-** '^^ 



<. *'T7r» ,0^ 



o^ 'o . * * A 















•* .# ^- 









nj.. 












■-^^^v , 



^-..i^ 



,,./^^u:^s/% . «.• ...^-v '^♦- . r^- 












•/ .^^"-. 



<, *'...• ,0 



'-^^.^ 






.* ^^"-V -.Bwe'; .'i'^"- 



O. '. . , « A 



<p. *'...* ,0 



.* ^^ ti 






r .....-> 



'• jp^*., -. 



*.. *. 






